Tropical Storm Jeanne's death toll in Haiti rose to more than 1,500 and UN peacekeepers were sending reinforcements to help keep order among desperate survivors who have been looting aid trucks and mobbing food distribution centres.
At least 900 more remained missing. Some 300,000 are homeless, most in the northwestern city of Gonaives.
Gang members have been trying to steal food out of the hands of aid recipients, and UN peacekeepers - who already numbered about 600 in Gonaives - were sending in 140 Uruguayan troops as reinforcements to try to keep order, said Mr Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, a spokesman for the UN mission.
"Security is one of our major concerns," he said, adding that the Uruguayan soldiers were on their way from the southern city of Les Cayes in trucks to back up some 450 Argentine troops, who have been joined by Brazilian soldiers and police from France, Jordan and other countries.
Officials said gang members had forced their way into aid distribution centres and stolen food. Mr Kongo-Doudou said troops had been able to shoo them away without clashes.
Stacks of bodies had disappeared outside a hospital, many of them buried in a mass grave.
World Food Programme's Mr Guy Gavreau, the director for Haiti, said they have been able to get food to only about 25,000 this week - one-tenth of the city's population.
The rains came as floodwaters finally began to recede from the city, where mud contaminated by overflowing sewage was forming a crust. People tried to fight the stench by holding limes or handkerchiefs to their noses.
Contaminated water that overflowed from the open sewer system was a health hazard, and a team of specialists will be working to help "clean this mess" of mud, Mr Kongo-Doudou said.
Planeloads of relief supplies from several nations and aid groups have arrived in Port-au-Prince, the capital to the south, but delivery has been delayed by damaged roads and security fears.
The crisis was only the latest tragedy in Haiti, a country of 8 million people that has suffered 30 coups. This week's was worsened by massive deforestation that left surrounding valleys unable to hold the rain unleashed by some 30 hours of pounding by Jeanne.
Before it hit Haiti, Jeanne lashed neighbouring Dominican Republic, where the death toll rose to 24 yesterday after rescue workers discovered five bodies crushed in a collapsed cave near the northern tourist town of Samana. Jeanne also killed seven people in Puerto Rico, making the overall Caribbean death toll at least 1,211.
AP