Preparations under way
in poorest Caribbean nation where some 400,000 people will be exposed to its
gathering strength.
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Haiti braced for a
new battering on Thursday as Tropical Storm Isaac swept across the Caribbean
toward the shattered island, gathering strength and threatening to reach
hurricane force.
About 400,000 residents were dangerously exposed to Isaac's
gathering fury in makeshift squatter camps, two years after an earthquake destroyed
the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
"They remain amongst the most vulnerable, should the storm
hit the city," said Jean-Claude Mukadi, Haiti national director for
humanitarian group World Vision.
"Without a stable sanitation system or permanent housing,
heavy rain and wind can create much larger problems like disease from water
contamination."
Isaac is forecast to hit Hispaniola island, which contains Haiti
and Dominican Republic, at approximately 12 GMT on Friday, and is expected
to deliver between 300 and 500 mm of rain.
Haiti has always struggled to cope with the aftermath of natural
disasters. Deforestation has made Haiti highly vulnerable to landslides and
flash flooding, and since the earthquake of 2010, the situation is even more
serious.
Immediately after the quake, it’s estimated that 1.5 million
people were housed in impromptu settlements.
If this storm follows the forecast, then it will cause widespread
flooding and potentially landslides as well. This will be hazardous to anyone
in the country, and tarpaulins will provide little, if any, protection.
Preparations are under way in the Caribbean, where the Tropical
Storm is expected to gather strength and be upgraded to a hurricane.
Residents in the neighbouring Dominican Republic and on nearby
Puerto Rico rushed to erect defences against the expected wind and rain, set to
sweep on to Cuba and the southern US by the weekend.
"Isaac could become a hurricane as it nears Haiti on Friday...
Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,"
the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said.
At 00:00 GMT, Isaac was "a little stronger," with
maximum sustained winds of 75km per hour as it headed west-northwest at 26km per
hour, according to the NHC.
Typhoon batters Taiwan
Isaac has already churned over the tiny Caribbean islands of
Guadeloupe, Martinique and Dominica.
Flights were cancelled, and some restaurants were closed, but
fortunately Isaac wasn’t particularly powerful when it hit the islands.
Generally the winds were under 75kph, and no more than 80 mm of rain was
reported.
Isaac is now heading west. It’s still strengthening and is
expected to become a hurricane by the time it makes landfall on Hispaniola.
As a precaution, hearings at the US military base at Guantanamo
Bay in Cuba have been postponed.
It's thought Isaac may hit Florida on Monday - the same day the
Republican National Convention starts.
Meanwhile, a powerful typhoon made landfall in southern Taiwan before
dawn on Friday, toppling trees and dumping torrential rain that flooded
farmlands before roaring out to sea.
No casualties from Typhoon Tembin were immediately reported, as
authorities had taken precautions, evacuating more than 3,000 people from mountainous,
landslide-prone areas of Taiwan a day ahead of the storm.
The Central Weather Bureau said Tembin landed in coastal Pingtung
County at 5am local time (21:00 GMT), packing winds of 155km per hour, before
blowing out to the Taiwan Strait 2 1/2 hours later.
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