Hurricane Hanna
As Hurricane Hanna, the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, follows close on the heels of Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav, the Caribbean Region is receiving little relief as storms bear down on its most vulnerable residents. With Tropical Storms Ike and Josephine on their way, the tiny islands in the hurricane belt off the coast of Florida are doing what they can to weather the effects of the storms.Haiti, in particular, has been hit hardest. Last week Gustav left more than 8,000 Haitians homeless in its wake. Now, Hanna continues to dump rain on the already waterlogged country, causing life-threatening floods and mudslides. According to news sources, winds are ripping up trees, and flood waters are destroying houses. Local sources report that in certain areas, entire towns are being washed away as the waters continue to rise. All told, floods and mudslides from Fay, Gustav, and Hanna have taken the lives of more than 100 people in Haiti, including a young girl who was part of a Nazarene church in Bombardopolis, a town in the northern peninsula.Bill Dawson, French field coordinator, reports major flooding in all zones of Haiti. "The weather is so bad that no one can fly within the country to deliver relief, and flooding of major roads has made it impossible to drive to areas outside the capital to provide relief," he said. "All of our 11 district superintendents and dozens of our pastors are reporting major damage to homes, crops, losses of animals, and personal losses across Haiti where some 8 million people live - more than 108,000 of whom are our Nazarene brothers and sisters."
