Haitians 'screaming for help' after storms

Haitians 'screaming for help' after storms
Story Highlights
Gonaives is surrounded by a lake of floodwaters

The known death toll in northern Haiti is 13

Haiti still recovering from Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in past two weeks

Steep terrain and deforested hills make Haiti vulnerable to floods


SAINT-MARC, Haiti (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.

Iris Norsil, 20, managed to flee the western coastal city of Gonaives and told The Associated Press that people there were isolated by muddy waters as evening fell, many seeking refuge on rooftops as wind gusts drove horizontal sheets of rain that flooded roads and buildings.

"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. iReport.com: Photos from Haiti
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/02/haiti.hanna.ap/index.html