The Death Toll In Haiti Reaches More Than 1,000

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 22 (AFP) - The death toll in floods in Haiti rose to 1,013, with 1,200 more missing and 918 wounded, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force said Wednesday.
"This is an interim toll. With 1,200 people missing, we expected it to go up," said Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, the spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission.
The death are blamed on weekend floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne that passed over the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic.
On Wednesday, authorities began burying flood victims in mass graves amid concern the putrefying bodies could pose a health hazard in affected areas.
The burials started in the northern city of Gonaives, which had 600 of the 711 confirmed deaths, and where morgues had no electricity for refrigeration, leaving bodies to rot in the sweltering heat.
"As waters go down, we are finding more bodies," said Kongo-Doudou.
In Gonaives, 450 houses were destroyed, according to the Haitian Civil Protection Office.
It said that in all, 250,000 people had to flee their homes, and aid agencies say many people were left with nothing.