6 years ago
JIMANI, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Emergency workers dumped scores of mud-caked corpses into a mass grave Tuesday as the reported death toll from flooding of rain-swollen rivers in the Dominican Republic and Haiti rose to at least 245.
Frantic relatives used their bare hands to dig through the mud for loved ones missing after Monday's heavy rains lashed the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the two countries.
At least 130 corpses were counted in the Dominican town of Jimani, near the border with Haiti, after shacks in the nearby village of Malpaso were swept away by flooding along the Solie River. An Associated Press reporter saw at least 100 corpses in a hospital morgue before families bearing wooden and metal coffins arrived to claim them.
Another 115 people were killed on the Haitian side in the towns of Jacmel and Fond Verrette, according to reports from Radio Metropole and Radio Vision 2000.
Emergency workers in surgical masks and white gloves watched as trucks dumped about 60 naked, bloated corpses into a 15-foot ditch outside Jimani that was left open to await more bodies. No relatives were present.
Many of the dead on the Dominican side of the border were believed to be Haitian workers living there illegally, and their relatives were afraid to claim their bodies. More than 50 of the bodies recovered were Haitian citizens, said Luis Gonzalez Fabra, a spokesman for Dominican President Hipolito Mejia, who was expected to travel to Jimani later Tuesday.
Rescue workers and families were still pulling bodies from the mud after daybreak Tuesday, said Juan Trinidad Dotel, president of the Dominican Red Cross.
U.S. Marines, who are leading a 3,600-member multinational task force sent to stabilize Haiti since the Feb. 29 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, were heading to Fond Verrette to look for victims and help in emergency work.
Many roads on both islands remained impassable.
Few of the ramshackle homes in Malpaso, west of Jimani, remained intact.
Some corpses were left at the side of the road for relatives to identify and claim.
Stunned townspeople roamed the darkened streets. Some dug through mud in search of missing relatives.
"We can't find her anywhere," cried Norma Cuevas, 32, as she desperately searched for her 63-year-old mother.
Elena Diaz, 42, sobbed as she waited in a long line outside the morgue where she went to look for her son-in-law and three grandchildren.
"They found my daughter. Now I have to see if I have some family left," she said, adding that her daughter's house was swept away.
Dominican officials sent about 300 soldiers and 25 ambulances from the capital of Santo Domingo, about 110 miles away.
The raging water carried some victims away. Bodies were found as far away as six miles downstream, said Maximo Noves Espinal, an emergency official in the town.
Farmer Jose Altagracia Perez said he was in his house at about 3 a.m. Monday when the water began to rise, leaving little time for action.
"The house is all gone. The river came and took everything. Now I don't have anything," said the 60-year-old Altagracia, waiting in line outside the morgue and looking for his 3-year-old son.
In northern San Francisco de Macoris, two men died when they were swept away by an overflowing river, Lora Salcedo said. Another man died when he was caught in strong currents while fishing.
About 450 homes were flooded throughout the Dominican Republic, and at least 14 small towns lost power and had downed phone lines, Lora Salcedo said. Victims were staying at shelters set up in churches or with family.
Small towns and roads were flooded west of the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, and more rain was expected Tuesday.
The floods were the island's deadliest in recent history.
In 1994, Tropical Storm Gordon caused mudslides that buried at least 829 Haitians. More recently, nearly 30 people died in September during floods caused by heavy rain in St. Marc, about 45 miles northwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Flooding on Monday in Puerto Rico killed at least four people.
Searchers in the capital of San Juan found the body of a 24-year-old man who disappeared Sunday in a flooded lagoon, officials said.
Parts of the island got up to 8 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. More than 60 Puerto Ricans were in emergency shelters in schools.
At sea, the rough weather contributed to the sinking of a Guyanese-registered freighter off the north coast early Monday, killing one man, officials said.
Associated Press