In addition to soil erosion, deforestation has caused periodic flooding, as seen on 17 September 2004. Tropical storm Jeanne skimmed the north coast of Haiti, leaving 3,006 people dead in flooding and mudslides, mostly in the city of Gonaïves.[4] Earlier that year in May, floods killed over 3,000 people on Haiti's southern border with the Dominican Republic.[5]
Haiti was again pummeled by tropical storms in late August and early September 2008. The storms—Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna and Hurricane Ike—all produced heavy winds and rain in Haiti. Due to weak soil conditions throughout Haiti, the country’s mountainous terrain, and the devastating coincidence of four storms within less than four weeks, valley and lowland areas throughout the country experienced massive flooding. Casualties proved difficult to count because the storm diminished human capacity and physical resources for such record keeping. Bodies continued to surface as the flood waters receded. A 10 September 2008 source listed 331 dead and 800,000 in need of humanitarian aid.[6] The grim state of affairs produced by these storms was all the more life-threatening due to already high food and fuel prices that had caused a food crisis and political unrest in April 2008.[7]
As was the case in 2004, the coastal city of Gonaïves was hit especially hard by the 2008 storms.
There were also major problems in 1999 with hurricanes, leaving 9,398 dead, 10,000 injured and at least 5,000 missing.
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