Heavy rain has been falling in parts of northern Haiti non-stop for almost one week. The rains have caused severe flooding across the region, in particular Cap-Haïtien (Le Cap) and areas of Nord Department.
Haiti Libre report that several rivers have overflowed in the area, including the Limé, Grande Rivière du Nord, Borgne and Bayeux.
In a statement made yesterday, the government of Haiti said floods have affected the northern region since Thursday 29 January 2015. The statement said that “ a delegation headed by the Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities, Dr. Ariel Henry is on site to assess the damage and coordinate first aid in favor of the victims.”
The President has sent instructions to the concerned government agencies to support victims and encourage the resumption of activities in areas affected by the weather.
There has been very little reported on the flooding, a fact pointed out by Eva DeHart, who works with the For Haiti with Love organisation in her interview with MNN here.
Ms DeHart said that areas of Cap-Hatien are knee-deep in water. She told MNN that it had stopped raining on Monday 02 February, and “people are putting things out in the sunshine. But for the last week, it’s been raining really, really hard again, and there are all kinds of flooding in the streets.”
We spoke with Ms DeHart about the flood situation. She said:
“It rained very hard for about a week. Cap Haitien is totally mountains on the west side so there is a lot of run-off, plus there is major bridge construction going on where the river empties into the sea. The construction company built a dirt barrier bridge around their constructions to accommodate traffic between the airport and the city. This works well with the large pipes they have through it – except during hard lingering rains like last week.
There were hundreds of homes and businesses flooded. As of yesterday they were starting to dry things out”.
The flooding has caused widespread damage to homes and property. It is not yet clear if there have been any casualties or evacuations.
#Haiti-intemperies une délégation du ministère de l'intérieur et des collectivités territoriales au Cap-haitien pic.twitter.com/LE0PJW6F1i
— walter cameau (@walcamhaiti) February 2, 2015
FLASH:- Inondations partielles dans plusieurs quartiers du Cap-Haïtien et de Limonade. Un mort signalé a Limonade. pic.twitter.com/hygNr16j0y
— L'un des meilleurs ™ (@RoodHT509) January 31, 2015
The recent floods come just 3 months after the devastating floods of November 2014, which left at least 8 people dead and forced thousands from their homes.
