Plea for aid as death toll from Haiti flood disaster reaches 660

The death toll was rising last night from the devastating flash-floods and mudslides that struck towns and villages in northern Haiti at the weekend.

The death toll was rising last night from the devastating flash-floods and mudslides that struck towns and villages in northern Haiti at the weekend.

The bodies of at least 662 people, mostly from the inundated city of Gonaives, had been found, the authorities said.

Search and rescue operations were under way, three days after Tropical Storm Jeanne lashed the country's northern shoreline, unleashing torrents of water and mud. Much of Gonaives resembled a muddy lake yesterday, with floodwaters reaching 10ft. The system gained hurricane strength and moved north into open Atlantic waters.

"We expect to find dozens more bodies, especially in Gonaives, as ... floodwaters recede," Dieufort Deslorges, a spokesman for Haiti's civil protection agency, said. Calling the situation "catastrophic", he said that survivors, many of whom took refuge on rooftops, "need everything from potable water to food, clothing, medication and disinfectants".

For Haiti, the drowning of so many residents in Gonaives, including disproportionate numbers of children, is another calamity in a year of relentless misery. Four months ago, a storm caused floods in southern Haiti on the border with the Dominican Republic, killing about 2,000 Haitians.

Gonaives, a city of 200,000 people, was the cradle of the rebellion in February that led to the overthrow of President Jean-Baptiste Aristide. An estimated 300 people died in fighting between rebels and the government.

Haiti was expecting this year to be celebrating the 200th anniversary of its independence from France, when it became the only country to throw off slavery on its own to become the world's first black republic.

Already the poorest country in the Americas, Haiti is especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides because it has been largely deforested by people combing hillsides for wood to burn as fuel. Without the trees and root systems, rain water runs unimpeded and mountainsides are destabilised.

Gerard Latortue, the interim Prime Minister, declared three days of national mourning. He returned to the region yesterday for a second day to see the damage. His aides said that he would attempt to land in his helicopter on the island of Tortue where there was no news of residents. Pilots were unable to find the island on Monday, apparently because it was covered with water.

International aid was slowly arriving. Three lorries from the Red Cross arrived in Gonaives and two were overrun by people desperate for bottled water, blankets and towels. Argentinian soldiers, who are part of a 3,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force deployed to Haiti after President Aristide's overthrow, were helping.

One man came to the soldiers' base in Gonaives asking for help to remove 11 bodies that were in his home, including those of his four brothers and a sister. "I would like to see if the soldiers could do something about these bodies," said Jean-Saint Manus, 30, a student. "The door was closed. Everybody was trapped inside."

Another survivor, Jean Estimable, said: "I lost my kids and there's nothing I can do." His two-year-old daughter was killed in the floods and another of his five children was missing presumed dead. "All I have is complete despair and the clothes I'm wearing."

About 80 per cent of the population of Gonaives were hit by the floods, officials said. "It's not just people's houses, it's also crops and livestock that have been washed away," Anne Poulsen of the UN's World Food Programme said.