The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in Haiti and the Dominican Republic has risen to at least 1,950 with the discovery of more than 1,000 bodies in a Hatian town.
The toll rose dramatically when the bodies were found in Mapou, a rural southeastern Haitian town where communications are poor, said Margareth Martin, the head of the civil protection office for Haiti's Southeast region.
Rescue workers dug through mud and debris for bodies three days after torrential rains sent rivers of mud and swirling waters through Hispaniola, the Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Haiti's death toll stood at 1,660, including 1,000 in Mapou, 500 elsewhere in Haiti's southeast region, 158 in the riverside town of Fond Verettes, and two in the south, at Port-a-Piment.
Authorities in the neighbouring Dominican Republic said they had recovered 300 bodies, mostly from Jimani near the Haitian border, where a river overflowed its banks before dawn and swept homes away as people slept. Survivors in Jimani said the flood waters reached 15 feet high.
In Haiti, troops from a US-led peacekeeping force flew helicopter loads of bottled water, fruit and bread to the town of Fond Verette, where the storm washed out the winding mountainside road from Port-au-Prince and cut off ground transportation to the town of 40,000,
Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas where the population of eight million struggles for food and shelter. Four out of five people live in poverty and only a quarter of Haitians has access to safe drinking water.
In the Dominican Republic, President Hipolito Mejia declared a day of national mourning for today. Several hundred people are still missing.
Relief workers and supplies of medicines, food, blankets were pouring into the Jimani area. Army tents sprang up to shelter dozens of Dominican soldiers sent to help with relief efforts. A stream of helicopters flew in from the capital and trucks ferried wood to rebuild homes. A fire truck was used to clean mud from the local hospital.
The European Union ias preparing a package worth €2 million for flood victims, the European Commission said in Brussels. The Irish Government announced a €100,000 aid package yesterday.
The United States announced it was giving $50,000 dollars to help the relief effort and was sending two disaster experts to evaluate the damage. Japan also said it was giving $100,000 in emergency aid.