A town in southern Haiti mourns its own as it staggers from Hurricane Melissa’s blow

PETIT-GOÂVE, Haiti (AP) — Many in Petit-Goâve were asleep when La Digue river began to rise after midnight.

By the time residents in the southern coastal town realized what was happening, it was too late. The river had burst its banks and swept away children, cars and homes as the outer bands of Hurricane Melissa lashed southern Haiti in late October.

One man escaped through a window while a woman grabbed onto a car and held her son tight to avoid being dragged by floodwaters that severely broke her leg.

They survived, but the Category 5 hurricane, one of the strongest Atlantic storms in recorded history, killed at least 43 people in Haiti. More than a dozen others remain missing.

Most of the deaths occurred in Petit- Goâve, where the community mourned their own on Saturday.

“Where is my strength?!” cried out Fanile Estinval as she opened her arms, dressed in all white to honor her two sons who died in the storm.

Eighteen caskets topped with bright yellow and orange flowers were carried into a public plaza where a crowd gathered to say its goodbyes. Many of the coffins were small, with Petit-Goâve losing at least 10 of its children.

Sadness mixed with guilt as the survivors of the storm wept and wailed for those who died.

Anger also prevailed, with a protest scheduled for Monday along a key highway to demand a quicker response and more aid from the government. The environment in Petit- Goâve remained tense, with some saying the deaths could have been prevented with better planning and infrastructure.

While the storm made landfall in Jamaica and killed at least 45 people there, its aftermath in Haiti will persist for months, officials warn.

Hundreds of people lost their homes and jobs, and many are going hungry.

Petit Goâve used to be a farming community with a bustling commercial center that saw 90% of its fields washed away in the storm, said Wanja Kaaria, the U.N.’s World Food Program director for Haiti.

“It was very devastating,” she said. “It will take a while to really restore the markets.”

WFP has distributed food to more than 40,000 people in Petit Goâve and expects to soon issue cash transfers to those affected by the storm.

Kaaria noted that for the first time in 10 years, WFP was unable to preposition contingency stock in southern Haiti ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season given ongoing funding issues.

Officials in Haiti also are concerned about an increase in deaths in the storm’s messy aftermath.

More than 30 suspected cholera cases and six deaths have been reported in Petit Goâve alone, said Boris Matous, UNICEF’s emergency specialist in Haiti.

The agency is rehabilitating and chlorinating water pumps, installing hand-washing stations and setting up mobile clinics, but challenges persist.

“What is worrying here is that we are talking about areas that are not very easy to access,” he said.

Melissa hit as poverty and political instability deepens across Haiti while hunger, cholera cases and gang violence surges.

“This hurricane, this catastrophe, is coming on the top of multiple other crises,” he said.

Hurricane Melissa damaged or destroyed more than 240 homes in Petit Goâve, and hundreds more were flooded.

In recent days, about 100 families remained sheltered in a hotel and a private home whose owner opened it to those affected, said Sergile Henry with the nonprofit Project Hope.

He noted that two small children were completely alone in a shelter, unable to find their parents.

“It was catastrophic,” he said of the storm.

Estinval, whose two sons died in the storm, was inconsolable on Saturday.

“A mother usually doesn’t bury her children,” she said. “When I die, who is going to bury me?”

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.