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Arrival of aid delayed by flooded roads

Crowds attend a Mass in honor of flood victims of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Tuesday about 125 miles southwest of Santo Domingo.Crowds attend a Mass in honor of flood victims of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Tuesday about 125 miles southwest of Santo Domingo. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Amy Bracken Associated Press
Crowds attend a Mass in honor of flood victims of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Tuesday about 125 miles southwest of Santo Domingo.Crowds attend a Mass in honor of flood victims of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Tuesday about 125 miles southwest of Santo Domingo. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

MARJOFRI, Haiti – Some of the villages devastated by floods that killed more than 1,700 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the hardest to reach as aid workers race to find ways to bring in food and water.

A torrent of water tore through here, destroying the only road leading to the farming community. At least seven people died and dozens are left without shelter, food, water. Many more had their crops destroyed.

Eight days later, no help has reached Marjofri and it’s unclear whether it ever will.

Helicopters from a U.S.-led multinational force have been ferrying food and water to Fond Verrettes, Mapou and Thiotte – southeastern villages with thousands of residents where the need was considered the greatest.

But with the U.S. mission nearing its end, aid workers are looking at other ways to help, especially with Tuesday’s onset of hurricane season.

“We knew from the start that helicopter shuttling by the Americans was limited,” said Michel Matera of the U.N. Development Program.

The U.S.-led multinational force, which officially handed control to a U.N. force Tuesday, said it has stalled flights to assess needs in other areas. Eventually, however, the Americans and their helicopters will leave.

In the southern port town of Marigot, workers from Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, Chicago-based World Vision, and Caritas spent half a day loading tens of thousands of pounds of food and supplies onto dinghies on Sunday.

But on reaching the seaside village of Grand Gosier, the workers discovered there was no way for them to transport the goods to the needy.

They then trekked to Mapou to tell people to come back to carry the food for themselves. Like most of impoverished Haiti, there are no telephones in the area.

Florence Fleranta, 26, was one of the first to meet up with the aid workers. She had walked three hours from Cayes Didier, where she lost 12 family members.

“So many people died along that route,” she said. “The smell is so bad, you have to cover your nose with a lime.”