In the city, UN peacekeepers and aid workers delivered high-energy biscuits and water to famished residents, many of whom had not eaten since Monday. At least 40,000 people remained in emergency shelters.
 Youngsters fish in the flood waters at a Banana plantation in Viallet, Haiti, caused by several previous storms/hurricanes including Tropical Storm Hanna, September 5, 2008. |
"What I saw in this city today is close to hell on earth," UN envoy Hedi Annabi said as he toured the region on Saturday.
Dozens of children raised their hands and ran after UN food trucks that rumbled through the damp streets of Gonaives. "Hungry! Hungry!" they yelled. The water in many neighborhoods has receded from about 10 feet (3 meters) high to knee deep.
Food also was brought to hungry inmates at the local jail, several of whom had deep-set eyes, protruding ribs and labored breathing.
"We haven't eaten since the storm," said 32-year-old Sylvin Renold, who had been arrested on theft charges.
Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste, director of the civil protection department, said three more bodies were found, raising the confirmed death toll from Hanna in Haiti to 166. Some 119 of the deaths have occurred in the province surrounding Gonaives.
In Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, authorities were trying to move thousands of people into the few shelters in the northern coastal town, said Father Duken Augustin.
"Please say a prayer for us," he told a reporter. "People are really, really, really scared."
The UN World Food Program said Saturday that successive deadly storms have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed scores of homes and plantations.
"WFP has first-rate logistics, and this storm system is putting us to the test," said Myrta Kaulard, WFP Representative in Haiti.
US Coast Guard crews expected to deliver up to 35 tons of supplies including rice, beans and water on Saturday. The US Southern Command diverted the amphibious USS Kearsarge from Colombia to Haiti. The ship should arrive Sunday and has a medical unit with 53 beds.
