Hanna Kills 21 In Haiti, Heads For U.S.

Haitians Cling To Rooftops To Avoid Storm's Floodwaters

(CBS/ AP)  Haitian families scrambled onto rooftops and screamed for help Tuesday in a city flooded by Tropical Storm Hanna, as U.N. peacekeepers and rescue convoys tried in vain to reach them.

By Tuesday night, Hanna claimed 21 lives in Haiti, including 12 dead in the state containing the cutoff city of Gonaives, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste of the country's civil protection office in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

Iris Norsil, 20, managed to flee Gonaives on Haiti's western shore and told The Associated Press that people there were isolated by muddy floodwaters as evening fell, seeking refuge on rooftops as wind gusts drove horizontal sheets of rain.

"They are screaming for help," Norsil said as a U.N. aid convoy tried unsuccessfully to drive into Gonaives, now surrounded by a virtual lake of floodwaters. A team of AP journalists accompanied the convoy.

Another convoy carrying Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis had to abandon efforts at getting into Gonaives when one of the cars was nearly swept away, said Julian Frantz, a Haitian police officer who was providing security for the group.

Floodwaters rose rapidly outside Gonaives, where Norsil and scores of other residents who abandoned the low-lying city shivered violently in soaked clothing, nervously eying the rushing, debris-clogged waters.

"The situation is as bad as it can be," said Vadre Louis, a U.N. official in Gonaives. "The wind is ripping up trees. Houses are flooded with water. Cars can't drive on the street. You can't rescue anyone, wherever they may be."

Those who could move clutched mattresses, chairs and other belongings as they slogged through waist-high floodwaters.

Hanna's maximum sustained winds slipped to 65 mph, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said it could regain hurricane strength and turn toward the east coast of Florida, Georgia or South Carolina in two to three days.

In Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist issued a state of emergency Tuesday to more easily mobilize emergency responders if Hanna hits the state. But forecasters warned that he entire U.S. East Coast should keep close watch.

Heavy rain from the storm's outer bands fell relentlessly in Haiti, a country still recovering from drenchings by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in the past two weeks. In all, floods and mudslides from the three storms have killed more than 100 people as Haiti's deforested hills melted away in the torrential rains.

In Puerto Rico, flooding was blamed for the drowning death of a Colombian university student in a raging river. The man's Brazilian friend was missing despite a desperate search in the water.

Swirling slowly through the southern Bahamas on Tuesday, Hanna lingered over the island of Great Inagua for hours, toppling power lines but otherwise doing little damage. There were reports of heavy winds stripping shingles from roofs and knocking down trees, but no injuries, said Chrystal Glinton, a spokeswoman for the Bahamas' National Emergency Management Agency.

"Everyone is alive and well," Glinton said. "The damages have been minimal."

The same could not be said for Haiti, a country particularly vulnerable to devastating floods because of its steep terrain and hills that have been deforested for agriculture and by peasants who burn trees for charcoal.

In the fertile Artibonite Valley, rice fields were flooded and farm animals huddled on small plots of dry land. In the village of L'Ester, Wilson Elie, a local official, said rain had overwhelmed his community and he pleaded for government help.

"The people cannot live in water," Elie said.

Tropical storm winds extended out 200 miles from Hanna's center.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ike was cruising westward across the Atlantic with top winds of 65 mph, projected to near the Bahamas by Sunday as a hurricane. Just behind it was Tropical Storm Josephine, with top winds of about 50 mph, and forecasters said it could near hurricane force by Wednesday or Thursday.

And in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Karina formed south of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, on a path leading far out to sea. It weakened to a tropical depression Tuesday night.

[flreason]

GOP_forever/AmericaBiker: Both of you (if you are not two on-line identities for the same person) need a serious injection of humanity and humility...a bit of the "there, but for the grace of God, go I."

GOP...Hurricanes and other natural disasters don''t discriminate between saints and sinners. Since you use your religion, presumably Christianity, as a justification for calling God''s punishment on those who disagree with you, perhaps you should go back and read the passages about loving your neighbor as yourself, and not judging others unless you''re ready for God to judge you.

[flreason]

Oops! I missed the parenthetical comment that only parts of Texas need rain.

[flreason]

It''s time to revive the Kingston Trio''s "Merry Minuet"..."They''re rioting in Africa...there''s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain." (

You folks need to lighten up. There isn''t anywhere that isn''t vulnerable. It''s just common sense to control those factors(pollution, deforestation) to the extent we can, and to study those factors beyond our control so we can minimize the impact on people and on the world economy. Turning every topic into a political "us vs. them" contest is not in anyone''s best interest.

[timdgrim]

We must pray and our collective prayer shall deflect the hurricane and send it torwards the sinners God intended it for.
Posted by GOP_forever
*************
How will it make it to St. Paul? Take the Mississippi River right up to the Excel Energy Center I guess.

[gop_forever]

GOP_forever ---- People like you are what will bring this great country to an end.


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Posted by Dimmu19
==========================
Jesus will come for the good people.

[dimmu19]

Burn Carbon Baby!!!!!! The sun has no sunspot activity for over a month accordind to the ultra-right wing Mount Wilson at UCLA. That is right! We are heading into cold not seen since 1913 and Al gore will finally be exposed for his phony-Global warming garbage. The US elite intellectual community has once again been exposed for the pin heads they really are! Save America and burn fossil fuels like there ain''''t no tommorrow-heck Al Gore does this already with his flying private jets and prodigius use of electricity while telling the rest of us to do the conservation thing---lies and more lies!!!

Posted by linymo at 10:43 AM : Sep 02, 2008


Yes, so in a few years we will all die because there will be no oxygen to breath any more. Everything will turn black from all the pollution. Great plan !!

[dimmu19]

GOP_forever ---- People like you are what will bring this great country to an end.

[gop_forever]

We must pray and our collective prayer shall deflect the hurricane and send it torwards the sinners God intended it for.

[hbevis]

IT SEEMS THAT SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS AL GORE BESIDES HIS OWN PEOPLE IN TENNESSEE. HE IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE STATE.

[haoli25]

Haiti: Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

[keithle1]

Doesn''t it get EXTREMELY old & tiring to live in a hurricane-prone area? I don''t get the appeal. Enlighten me someone.

"Time for another evacuation!"

[sistatee-2009]

Can''t the Haitian government evacuate these people and give them trailers to live in? No, because trailers would be a step UP from their present living conditions.

[slim1h2o]

In a World where rain lashes the land, waves pelt the coasts, this is Huricane season.

A nod to Don LaFontain, the movie, "In a world" voice guy, who just passed away.

R.I.P.