Port-au-Prince, February 3, 2022. – Major flooding due to heavy rainfall in the North-Western and North-Eastern municipalities of Haiti has resulted in at least six deaths and one missing person. The island’s Civil Protection Agency shared this latest report on Monday, January 31, 2022.
The agency continued to report that nearly 36 hours of rain caused flooding, primarily in the north of the Caribbean country, with water filling the historic center of Cap-Haitien and heavy winds downing trees.
“Residents of areas that are prone to flooding and exposed to wind (should) take the necessary precautions to protect themselves,” the agency had written in a statement while recommending that, “Above all, (citizens should) not cross flooded rivers under any circumstances.” The flooding has already had a devastating impact on over 2500 households across 22 municipalities.
On February 2, 2022, a delegation that included the Director-General of Civil Protection, Dr. Jerry Chandler, and Haiti’s Minister of the Interior and Territorial Collectivities, Mr. Liszt Quitel, met with officials of the main municipalities in Cap-Haitien to discuss relief efforts.
The result of this meeting proved fruitful as several national and international partners were deployed by midday of the same day with a convoy of necessities for the over 500 displaced families in a temporary shelter in Haiti’s north coastal city of Fort Liberte.
Director-General Chandler took the opportunity to publicly ask communities members exposed to the risk of flooding to take the necessary measures to protect themselves. In the meantime, the agency will continue to monitor the weather situation to keep the population informed and remind them of the precautionary instructions.
