Tropical storm Isaac hit Haiti with driving rain and gale-force winds early yesterday as it came ashore in the impoverished Caribbean nation still reeling from the effects of a devastating 2010 earthquake.
The streets were empty and only a few, rare vehicles ventured out after dark
“It has just moved ashore west of Port-au-Prince,” Jessica Schauer, a spokeswoman of the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) told AFP.
US forecasters said Isaac was near hurricane strength when the eye of the storm made landfall in Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of people are still living in squalid, makeshift camps with nothing but sheets of metal or tarp as roofs.
Earlier yesterday, the storm displayed “faster northwestward motion” as it barrelled Haiti’s southern coast, the NHC said. It packed winds of nearly 110 km an hour, with higher gusts.
Around 400,000 people still live in temporary tent camps following the earthquake that killed 250,000 and levelled Port-au-Prince, and they have nowhere to go.
The streets grew empty, and only a few, rare vehicles ventured out after dark. Earlier in the day, long lines had formed outside supermarkets as people stocked up on supplies.
“We’re not ready,” said Martine, who heads a watch group at a camp hosting a thousand families.
“When it rains, we stand under tents with holes in them. There are many children and we don’t know what to do if we have to evacuate,” she told AFP.
With no access to public restrooms or safe drinking water, residents of the Canape Vert camp complained about the lack of help from the authorities.
But a government official said President Michel Martelly,who cancelled a trip to Japan,had toured emergency shelters in central Port-au-Prince to distribute food supplies and blankets.
Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said the entire government, including security forces, had mobilised to prepare for the storm.
Aid groups warned that those without proper shelter after the quake were among the most vulnerable if Isaac hits the capital,at risk of disease from water contamination and other disaster scenarios.
“We must now avoid any risk of a cholera outbreak by following proper hygiene,” said Lea Guido, representative of the Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation in Haiti.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for the neighbouring Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba.
A tropical storm watch was in effect for the Florida Keys and parts of south Florida.
The Haiti director for Oxfam said that his group was preparing clean water and hygiene kits to help prevent the spread of cholera and other water-borne diseases.