News / Weather
Relocation Communities in Haiti at Risk for Tropical Weather
AccuWeather.com reports six months after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti, weather concerns shift from the rainy season to hurricanes and tropical storms plaguing tent and relocation communities.
Haiti's rainy season begins to wrap up by the end of July, but thunderstorms bringing 1-2 inches of rain to Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas through Wednesday will continue to threaten fragile relocation communities with flash flooding and mudslides.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists report 3.75 inches of rain falling as of Wednesday in Port-au-Prince during July 2010, compared to 9.11 inches of rain during the entire month of July 2009. Meteorologists expect Port-au-Prince to reach or surpass last July's totals by the end of the month.
A large swath of dry air blasting westward off Africa into the Atlantic Ocean has quieted tropical development across the Atlantic Basin at this time, and for this reason, meteorologists expect conditions to calm across Haiti over the next week.
However, tropical activity for the region could really start to heat up in coming weeks, according to AccuWeather.com Chief Hurricane Meteorologist Joe Bastardi.
Bastardi expects 18-21 named tropical storms to impact the Atlantic Ocean this hurricane season, which runs June 1 through Nov. 30.
Meteorologists foresee one or more tropical storms impacting Haiti this tropical season, which reaches its peak beginning in mid-August and continues through early October.
Haiti is no stranger to hurricanes, and most recently in 2008, four separate hurricanes in nearly 30 days pummeled the region with heavy rains that prompted deadly flash flooding and mudslides.
Tropical Storm Jeanne killed nearly 3,000 people in September 2004, and in mid-September of 1998 over 80 percent of crops were destroyed and more than 400 were dead after Hurricane George.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that storm damage from heavy rain on Monday to Corail-Cesselesse relocation camps collapsed over 300 tents and left 1,700 fleeing for new shelters.
More than 7,000 displaced Haitians were moved in April from tent communities in Port-au-Prince to a more remote desert plain in Corail-Cesselesse. Officials hoped the new location would be more weather resistant than low-lying areas around the nation's capital.
However, the topography of land around Corail-Cesselesse lacks trees and has a mountainous region to its back, making the area more prone to flash-flooding dangers.
After the 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12, more than 200,000 were killed and officials report some 1.6 million still displaced.
By Carly Porter, Writer for AccuWeather.com
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