At least 23 people have died near Haiti’s capital following heavy rains that triggered floods, Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime said on Friday.
Bien-Aime said 23 bodies were found on Thursday in Cabaret, north of the capital, after flood waters hit their hillside homes, sweeping them away in the current.
”It is still a preliminary toll. There are about 12 people still missing,” he added.
More than 6 000 people have had to leave their completely flooded homes in Cabaret, authorities said.
Hilly, mountainous and impoverished Haiti, where deforestation is a constant problem as people collect every wood scrap for cooking, faces regular flash-flooding woes during the rainy season.
In eastern Cuba, just west of Haiti, civil defence officials evacuated more than 18 000 people amid flooding concerns from the same weather system, which damaged at least 1 000 homes there. — Sapa-AFP