Taking stock between the storms

Last week I wrote relatively good news about Gustav - the much anticipated hurricane that passed over Haiti without us feeling a single gust of wind here in Port-au-Prince. This week, Hurricane Hanna caught us all by surprise when she hovered just north of Haiti for almost 3 days - bringing an afternoon of seriously high winds and several days of heavy rain.



Tuesday, we were at the clinic when the winds picked up mid-day. Objects were crashing off the roof and trees falling over. We left work early so that people could get home to secure their property. All along the drive home we saw broken branches littering the streets and leaning electrical poles - until finally, about 100 yards from the gate to our neighborhood, we reached a point in the road where we couldn't pass because a huge tree had fallen across the road - taking down a compound wall and several power lines with it. We lost electricity and internet for about a day as they had to repair a broken line to the neighborhood's generator. We aren't likely to get back on the city power grid for a month or more.

The winds died down by the end of Tuesday but the clinic was closed on Wednesday as the director did not want staff and patients to navigate through the dangling power lines and blocked roads. Sporadic rains kept many of the mothers in our project away on Thursday. I'm thankful that as of this morning, all but 2 of the 33 babies enrolled so far are up to date on their visits and their supply of fortified manba. We've been noting a lot of cases of diarrhea this week which are likely related to the rains.

These issues are relatively minor compared to what Hurricane Hanna caused in Gonaives, a city several hours north of Port-au-Prince. Terrible flooding has left people standing on rooftops for more than two days without food or water. The woman who comes one day each week to clean our home is from Gonaives . She told us that her brother and sister lost everything in the floods - their home, their clothes, their cooking pots. I've heard similar devastating stories from others with family and friends in the area. An estimated 250,000 people are in need of assistance. The director of our clinic is urging people to make donations to their local chapter of the American Red Cross with the designation that it should go the Haitian Red Cross. (Photos below from Miami Herald)




Today is back to beautiful (but hot) blue skies above Port-au-Prince. Unfortunately it's not likely to last more than a day. Two more storms - Ike and Josephine - are currently on their way into the Caribbean. Ike, which is currently a Category 4 hurricane, is projected to arrive Sunday morning. While it is predicted to make landfall in the Bahamas, people here in Haiti are very afraid of the heavy rains that may last through the week to come.