Haiti (MNN) — Flooding from Hurricane Melissa has killed at least 25 people in Haiti and left 18 others missing as the storm tore through the Caribbean this week.
Officials say the worst of the flooding struck Haiti’s southern region. Houses collapsed or were swept away, and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday.
Laurent Saint-Cyr, president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, says the government is mobilizing resources for search and rescue operations and emergency relief.
(Image courtesy of Friends of Radio-TV 4VEH, The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti via Facebook)
Haitians in the capital, Port-au-Prince — already displaced by gang violence — were hit as torrential rain flooded makeshift shelters and tent homes.
Kate Michel with Radio-TV 4VEH, a partner ministry of Trans World Radio in Haiti, says the loss is compounded by Haitians’ living situations.
“A lot of Haiti’s people are living in very vulnerable areas,” Michel explains. “They may be living in vulnerable housing that doesn’t really withstand strong winds. They may be living on the side of a hill or mountain that, when there’s a lot of heavy rainfall, the streams just come flooding down the hillside.
“My expectation is that we will see and hear more news of perhaps lives lost or people injured, people missing, homes affected, roads cut off, [and] communities stranded.”
While the storm battered Haiti’s south, 4VEH’s broadcast center on the northern coast continues to operate. In times of crisis, 4VEH becomes a practical and spiritual lifeline.
“A lot of the areas where we broadcast have no other radio stations or connections with the outside world,” Michel says. “So, particularly when there’s a very serious storm coming, we may change our programming hours, we may do more live broadcasts… and then we always have a very strong focus on prayer during our daily broadcasts.”
Now, as Haiti reels from the floods, Michel urges believers to pray. “People will have lost friends, neighbors, and family members. Maybe they’ve lost their homes and their crops and their livelihoods…. Let’s pray that the Lord will raise up the help that they need.”
Header photo: Hurricane Melissa (Photo by ABI imagery from NOAA’S GOES-19 Satellite – EOSDIS Worldview, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=177446071)
