A 10-year-old girl died Sunday morning in Haiti during the passage of storm Laura which caused rain and flooding, while another storm, Marco, was to strengthen as it advanced towards Louisiana.
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The child died following the fall of a tree on his house in Anse-à-Pitres, in the south-east of Haiti, according to a preliminary report from the Haitian civil protection transmitted to AFP.
Several houses are already flooded in this Haitian town where evacuations of inhabitants are in progress, said the institution.
Located in the Dominican Republic with which Haiti shares the island of Quisqueya, the storm has been pouring moderate to sustained rains since early Sunday on several cities in the country, accompanied by winds.
Since Friday, Haiti has been on orange alert in the face of the risk of torrential rainfall and gusts.
If the virulence of COVID-19 has so far been relatively low in Haiti, with 8,050 cases tested positive and 196 deaths officially attributed to the virus, the Haitian authorities want to prevent a possible spread of the epidemic on the sidelines of natural disasters such as storm Laura.
“Put on your masks and respect the distances, especially in temporary shelters. With the Covid, we have considerably less reception capacity, ”said Audain Fils Bernadel, Minister of the Interior, during a press briefing by the authorities on Saturday.
According to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), Laura’s eye will move through Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Sunday morning, be near or over Cuba on Sunday evening and Monday then over south- eastern Gulf of Mexico Monday evening and Tuesday.
As for storm Marco, it must, again according to the NHC, strengthen and become a hurricane during the day.
It is expected to continue advancing on Sunday and approach southeastern Louisiana on Monday.
Once it becomes a hurricane, however, Marco should “quickly” weaken once it makes landfall, according to the Center.