Jeanne batters Haiti; 54 dead
GONAIVES, Haiti (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Jeanne has pummeled the north coast of Haiti, killing 54 people and leaving another 150 unaccounted for, a U.N. spokesman said Sunday.
The storm dumped 33cm (13 inches) of rain on Haiti on Saturday, triggering massive flooding and mudslides.
Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue visited the stricken northern city of Gonaives on Sunday, said Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, a spokesman for the U.N. Stabilization Mission.
Latortue and his interior minister toured the area in a U.N. truck, but were not able to reach many areas because of flooded roads, The Associated Press reported.
Calling the situation there "desperate," Kongo-Doudou said about 80,000 of the city's 100,000 residents have been affected by the flood.
"Almost the entire town is under water," he said. "The death toll, unfortunately, may rise to up to 200 persons."
Latortue, who was named prime minister in February 2004 after the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, plans to to appeal for international assistance in dealing with the disaster, Kongo-Doudou said.
Jeanne was reduced to a tropical storm after hitting Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico last week. It picked up strength Sunday night but was headed toward the open Atlantic, away from land.
At 11 p.m. ET, the center of the storm was about 180 miles (285 km) east-northeast of San Salvador, in the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. Top winds had increased to 60 mph (129 km/h).
The storm was moving north at 8 mph, and the hurricane center predicted it would turn toward the northeast within the next 24 hours.
