Situation report after the passage of IRMA

Situation report after the passage of IRMA Following the passage of Category 5 Hurricane IRMA on Haiti, the National Emergency Operations Center (COUN) in its bulletin #3 informs us:16 communes of the departments of the North-East, North, Central, Artibonite and West are partially flooded by runoff and floods of the main rivers of the said departments:Northeast: Ouanaminthe (severe flooding in places), Fort-Liberté, Caracol, Ferrier and Trou-du-NordNorth: Pilate and LimonadeCenter: Hinche and Mirebalais, Lachapelle, Grande Saline, Dessalines, Saint-MarcWest: Cabaret, Tabarre and ThomazeauCivil Protection and its partners have evacuated people from 10.085 to 59 temporary shelters in 6 departments and thousands went to foster homes;Northwest: 1,553 people in 11 open shelters;Grand-Anse: 529 people in 6 shelters (Chambellan and Beaumont);Northeast: 6,290 people in 14 shelters;Artibonite: 169 in 4 shelters;Center: 550 people in 13 shelters; North: 994 people in 11 shelters.Sections of roads are cut in the center, between Hinche and Thomassique and also Hinche and Cap-Haïtien via Pignon, because of the floods of the Ravine Couine. National road number 3 is divided in two places, at the level of Ravine La Couine and between Saint-Raphaël and Pignon;The red alert is lifted all over the national territoryIn the aftermath of passage of passage of IRMA, which caused flooding, falling trees, damage to agriculture and buildings, the Organization for the Development of the Artibonite Valley alerted the population downstream of the opening on Friday morning of the locks of the dam Cannot, to allow 500 m3 of water to pass, due to the increased flow of the Artibonite river due to the tributaries (Fer-à-Cheval river, Latème river and some gullies);On Friday, heavy rains stopped early in the morning across the country and weather conditions are gradually returning to normal.Habitat :Houses are destroyed or damaged, including roofs blown by winds, at the level of affected departments. Assessments are under way to complement the data on the impacts on the built environment.Agriculture and Environment :The Ministry of Environment is in the process of mobilizing civil engineering equipment to facilitate the cleaning and clogging of the gaps.Flooding of 450 hectares of agricultural perimeters of Jassa by the river bearing the same name. Considerable losses have been recorded in rice, okra, sweet potato, banana, pepper and pea plantations.The Artibonite River has been in flood since the beginning of the evening of 7 September.HaitiLibre | September 9, 2017

Digicel gives free minutes and SMS

With the passage of Hurricane IRMA on several islands in the Caribbean, Digicel today announced that it will provide customers in affected markets with free calls so they can communicate with their relatives.Digicel Haiti will accompany its customers in the affected areas by providing them with a special allowance of 10 minutes and 50 SMSs after the passage of RMA to communicate with Digicel subscribers."We understand the need to be able to quickly contact our relatives to ensure that they are safe and sound after an emergency and we are happy to offer our customers the means to do so," said Maarten Boute, the President of Digicel Haiti "The safety of our customers is always our highest priority. Thus, we encourage everyone to stay tuned to weather messages and to follow the safety instructions."In anticipation of Hurricane Irma, as of Monday, Digicel has activated its emergency plan.With respect to the reopening of its offices in the affected areas, Digicel will keep its subscribers informed as the situation evolves.By: HL/ HaitiLibre | September 8, 2017

Irma extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane

Miami - Irma picked up strength and has become an "extremely dangerous" Category Five hurricane as it approached the Caribbean on Tuesday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre reported."Preparations should be rushed to completion in the hurricane warning area," the NHC said in its 12:00 GMT bulletin.The monster hurricane, the most powerful of the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, is about 440km east of the island of Antigua packing maximum sustained winds of 280km/h.Irma is expected to make landfall along the string of French islands that includes Guadeloupe late on Tuesday before heading to Haiti and Florida.The storm was moving towards the west at 22km per hour, and is expected to drop between 10- and 20cm of rain when it hits land."These rainfall amounts may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the NHC warned.The storm is also is expected to "cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions".Irma, which has triggered alarm and alerts from the French West Indies to Florida, comes after of Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas and Louisiana late last month.Haiti Sun | September 5, 2017