Hurricane Sandy killed 29, damaged crops and roads in Haiti

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2012-10-28

Hurricane Sandy's destructive path through Haiti left 29 dead and caused extensive damage to roads and crops in the impoverished, quake-ravaged country, authorities said Saturday.

Eight people were also injured and four were still missing after the massive storm plowed through the country, the poorest in the Americas, according to a report from the civil protection agency.

And "the numbers could rise, because we are continuing to collect information to compile a final evaluation by Sunday," agency chief Alta Jean-Baptiste told AFP.

Some 19,000 people were evacuated during the storm, which flooded several regions of the country.

A number of plantations were destroyed and roads were blocked, cutting off several cities in south and southwest Haiti, authorities said.

The government has pledged 350 million gourdes ($8 million) to help people in affected areas.

Friday, Haitian President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe distributed food and bottles of water in poor neighborhoods in the capital.

Haiti is still recovering from a massive earthquake in January 2010 that killed some 200,000 people, leveled much of Port-au-Prince, and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

Source: ReliefWeb

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