Tropical Storm Hanna by Kirsty McCabe
Tropical Storm Hanna left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean island of Haiti and has claimed more than 500 lives.
Hanna weakened from a category one hurricane to a tropical storm before it hit Haiti, but still produced huge amounts of rainfall, which flooded large parts of the island and caused landslides. Torrents of muddy water swept away roads and houses and vast areas of crops have been destroyed. One of the worst hit towns was Gonaives, which has been completely devastated.
Flood waters have now begun to recede across Haiti as Tropical Storm Hanna moved north making landfall early Saturday morning on the North and South Carolina border. The respite in Haiti will be short lived as Hurricane Ike is waiting in the wings. Ike has now intensified into a strong category three storm and is expected to pass to the north of Haiti giving a risk of further heavy rain.
As Hanna moves north along the Eastern Seaboard, authorities began evacuating several beach communities across North Carolina. Storm warnings were issued from Georgia to New Jersey as the eighth tropical storm of the season threatened the east coast with flash flooding.
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