by Staff Writers
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Aug 4, 2011


Tropical Storm Emily slammed southern Haiti with winds and rains
Thursday as hundreds of thousands huddled in squalid makeshift camps,
some perched precariously on bare, slippery hillsides.


After meandering for a few hours off southern Haiti, the storm was
"nudging west northwards, drenching Hispaniola," the Caribbean island
shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the US National Hurricane
Center said.


The Miami-based weather experts have warned of "torrential rain" and
"life-threatening flash floods and mudslides" as Emily moves over the
impoverished nation.


Authorities cancelled all domestic flights and shut down government
buildings, urging Haitians not to leave their homes if possible. The
visa section at the US embassy in the capital Port-au-Prince was closed.


Early Thursday, the storm was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) from
Port-au-Prince, but the city had so far been spared the worst as heavy
rains lashed the southern towns of Jacmel and Cayes.


Haitian officials have hoisted a red alert, fearful some 300,000
Haitians still living in makeshift camps almost 19 months after a
catastrophic January 2010 earthquake could face flash-floods and wet,
sodden conditions.


The storm had stalled off the coast but began moving forward again at a
snail's pace of five miles an hour with some increase in forward speed
expected, and packing winds of 50 miles per hour with higher gusts.


Weather experts warned residents to expect up to 20 inches (50
centimeters) of rain in some isolated areas, which could come cascading
down hillsides long since stripped bare of trees, used for fuel and
building materials.


Haiti's weather service chief Ronald Semelfort warned Emily would be "a
great danger for the country still fragile from the January 2010
earthquake."


The US National Hurricane Center said the center of Emily was to hit
Haiti's southwestern peninsula later Thursday.


The storm is forecast to dump between six and 12 inches (15-30
centimeters) of rain with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches possible
over Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the NHC said.


"Some weakening is possible as Emily interacts with the high terrain of
Haiti and eastern Cuba," it said, with "re-strengthening" possible when
it moves over the Bahamas.


Coastal areas were warned of a storm surge which will raise water levels
by one to three feet and be "accompanied by large and dangerous waves."
Shipping has been banned along Haiti's southern coast.


Haiti is still recovering from the devastating 2010 quake, which killed
an estimated 225,000 people. The country has also been battling an
outbreak of cholera, which has killed 5,506 people and infected 363,117.


About 300 families had already been affected by flooding, and some
cholera treatment centers were swept away, officials said. The health
ministry urged personnel at such centers to bring their patients to
nearby hospitals.


A team of Cuban doctors in Haiti were on standby to prevent any further
outbreaks of the water-borne illness.


"People living in unsafe housing will be the worst affected if flooding
hits," Harry Donsbach, the earthquake response director in Haiti for the
Christian charity group World Vision, said in a statement on Wednesday.


"Landslides are of course a threat, but even simply heavy rain has the
potential to worsen the volatile sanitation conditions in camps, which,
with cholera still prevalent in Haiti, is a serious concern," Donsbach said.


In the Dominican Republic, a maximum red alert has been sounded across
six provinces, and all water and outdoor leisure activities suspended.


Mandatory evacuations were declared in a dozen villages near dams, and
Dominican officials warned residents in other areas.


"Residents in high-risk areas, who live next to rivers, streams and
creeks... should take precautions and be aware of the recommendations of
the relief agencies," the government's office of emergency services said.


The tropical storm warning was also in effect for eastern Cuba, the
central Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos islands.


In Cuba, the national Institute of Meteorology said to expect heavy rain
from Emily in the far eastern part of the island by Thursday afternoon.


The lead forecaster at the US national weather service, Gerry Bell, said
Thursday that residents of the southeastern US state of Florida should
"still be on their toes" as the storm still had the potential to hit the
area.


In the Pacific Ocean, meanwhile, Hurricane Eugene weakened to a category
three storm far off Mexico's western coast, but was heading away from
land towards the north-west and into the open sea.

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