Storm Laura, which passed over Haiti on Sunday, caused the death of at least 31 people in the country, according to the latest official report published Friday, August 28. Laura " left 31 dead, 8 missing and 8 injured ", details a statement from the Haitian civil protection. The toll of material damage, concentrated in the departments of the West and Southeast, states that more than 6,200 houses were flooded, more than 2,300 damaged and 243 others destroyed.
In the most affected communes, 800 families " received mattresses, materials for repairing their homes (metal sheets, wood, nails) as well as food kits and hot meals ", indicates the Haitian public administration. In the Dominican Republic, with which Haiti shares the island of Quisqueya, four people were killed during the storm.
In Cuba, at least 340,000 people had been preventively evacuated to safe places. After passing through the Caribbean, Storm Laura strengthened as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico and became a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which has five. It was then downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday afternoon. It has left at least six dead in the southern United States but less damage than feared.
Like all the countries of the Caribbean region, Haiti is each year, from June to November, under the threat of cyclones but heavy showers are enough to threaten the lives of the most disadvantaged citizens, forced to live in areas at risk, near canals or gullies clogged with waste.