Five dead, 19 fishermen missing after torrential rains, flooding hit in Haiti

Haiti has been grappling with a heavy rainy season this year and is recovering from Category-4 Hurricane Matthew, which devastated much of the country’s southwest last October.

Five people were killed and 19 went missing after torrential rains and flooding hit Haiti, its Department of Civil Protection said on Thursday.

Men walk holding a motorcycle in a partially flooded street by the rains during this afternoon, in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, on May 2. (AFP File Photo)

Streams, rivers and ravines overflowed causing the casualties and some damage to infrastructure, the government authority said in a statement.

Nineteen fishermen were missing from two towns in the coastal Grande-Anse region of southern Haiti, it said, adding that in the same region 322 people were staying in shelters and 20 people sought shelter in the Nord-Ouest department.

Haiti has been grappling with a heavy rainy season this year and is recovering from Category-4 Hurricane Matthew, which devastated much of the country’s southwest last October.

The impoverished nation is in a hurricane-prone area and is especially susceptible to natural disasters because of poor infrastructure and a lack of government resources.