Haiti Braces for Fresh Hurricane

Hurricane Ike today was bearing down on Haiti as the island is reeling from three previous storms that have left at least 163 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

As Haiti braced itself for yet another storm, aid groups have yet to reach thousands left hungry by tropical storm Hanna. More than 10,000 people have left the western port of Gonaives, Haiti's fourth largest city, on foot, swimming and wading through floodwaters and heading for the next town about 45 miles to the south, Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of Food for the Poor, said.

"The exodus out of Gonaives is massive," said Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of the group Food for the poor.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of the Haitian civil protection department, said 163 deaths had been confirmed, including 119 in and around Gonaives. The skies finally cleared yesterday, allowing UN and US helicopters to land.

But the respite was expected to be brief. Ike, a category three hurricane, is forecast to pass just north of Haiti tomorrow. Even if Haiti avoids a direct hit, Ike is almost certain to dump rain into rivers that funnel into Gonaives and the surrounding flood plain.

Max Cocsi, who directs Belgium's mission in Haiti of Doctors Without Borders, said that it would not take much rain to compound the disaster, because the soil was already saturated and rivers were overflowing from three tropical storms in less than three weeks. The two earlier storms - Fay and Gustav - killed at least 96 more Haitians.

"We don't need a hurricane — a storm would be enough," he said.Rescue convoys have been blocked for days by floodwaters, collapsed bridges and washed-out roads. A US plane from Miami delivered enough relief supplies for 20,000 people to the capital on Thursday, much of which was brought to Gonaives by a US Coast Guard ship and by air.

The shipments, including health kits, plastic sheeting and water jugs, will be followed by more aid as soon as officials find ways of delivering the aid. The tropical storms have compounded Haiti's misery. The western hemisphere's poorest country was already suffering from rising prices and government disorder following April food riots which forced out the prime minister.

Flooded roads, broken piers and mass cell phone outages have impeded aid efforts. The container ship Trois Rivieres, chartered by the WFP, arrived at a remote private port outside Gonaives. It was guarded by Argentine peacekeepers with assault rifles.

Within hours, the UN began distributing high-energy biscuits and water to emergency shelters where at least 40,000 people were marooned and increasingly desperate. Workers delivered aid to some 2,000 people in two shelters before operations were suspended at dusk, as it was considered too dangerous to work in the city after dark.

At an empty warehouse in the northern section of the city where floodwaters have receded, about 1,000 hungry and thirsty Haitians, some carrying children, pushed and shoved as officials in orange T-shirts tried to get them to queue up line. Armed peacekeepers stood by.

Anna Achelis, whose house was completely submerged, emerged from the melee holding one of her identical 3-year-old twin girls along with two bottles of water, five vitamin-enriched biscuits and a box of toiletries. She said she hoped the biscuits would stave off hunger for her five children.