Haiti agency says 5 dead from recent downpours

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Downpours in Haiti have caused rivers to burst their banks and resulted in at least five deaths in recent days.

Haiti’s civil protection agency announced Thursday that four people have been swept away trying to cross rain-swollen rivers. The deaths include a 17-year-old girl and a 24-year-old woman whose bodies were recovered by the northern town of Port-de-Paix.

The agency says a boy in Anse du Nord also was swept away when his family was evacuating a deluged shack.

Caribbean countries have been saturated by heavy spring rains in recent weeks.

Last month, downpours drowned crops and caused four deaths in southwest Haiti, the region hit by Hurricane Matthew last year.

Many Haitians have flimsy houses set up in risky places, so even moderate rains pose a chronic threat.