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Haiti Bracing for the Storm

November 05, 2010 - Haiti

by Johnathan White

Our staff and friends in Haiti are all bracing for the heavy rains and wind later today and hoping that the massive tent camps don’t turn into a worse situation than they already are. The Port-au-Prince area is already a very fragile situation with the recent Cholera outbreak and the continued lack of real development funding from the international community. Most living in the tent camps are reluctant to leave the little they have as they are worried they won’t be able to return or will lose what little they have. Little has changed for the Haitians since we marked the 6 month anniversary of the earthquake back in July.

Our initiative in Port au Prince is preparing for the aftermath of this storm and continues to work to find ways to build longer term sustainable efforts.

More about the storm

Hurricane Tomas is expected to pass near western Haiti later today Tomas will likely now maintain high end category one hurricane status as the storm center transits between Cuba and Haiti later this morning.

Sustained winds will be in the 80-90 mph range with mountain top gusts approaching 100 mph + (winds are always stronger higher up in the atmosphere). Rain totals may approach locally 6"~~12"~~ flash flooding remains a big concern and wind gusts will be strong enough even though the center of the hurricane is expected to stay out over water —> to bring down weaker materials in the shelter zones.

Reports are this morning that despite warnings to leave – many chose not to citing the shelters are all they have left and don’t want to risk losing what little possessions that remain. A truly awful and sad situation.

Here’s the latest path update from the National Hurricane Center:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents

To contribute to our Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts, please visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

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