Haiti floods have left three dead and one person missing, official says

Haiti (Reuters) – Flooding in Haiti has left three people dead and one person missing, the head of the country’s civil protection authority told Reuters on Tuesday, following two days of heavy rains that have swollen rivers and damaged homes.

Rescue teams on Monday had already begun evacuating people in high-risk zones after thousands of homes were flooded and some 2,500 families displaced. The north of the country has been the hardest hit, with water filling the historic center of the city of Cap-Haitien, and heavy winds downing trees. L1N2UC03E

“We have 3 fatalities in the (Nord-Ouest department) and one person missing,” wrote civil protection director Jerry Chandler in a text message.

Haiti is prone to natural disasters, often due to the poor state of housing. Flood-prone areas are frequently home to poor and densely populated communities.

Some 300,000 people were killed in a massive 2010 earthquake and more than 2,000 died last year in a quake on the country’s southern peninsula.