Petit-Goâve Mourns After Hurricane Melissa — Dozens Dead, Aid Delays and Cholera Fears

PETIT-GOÂVE, Haiti — Community reels after midnight floods

Many residents of Petit-Goâve were asleep when the La Digue River began to swell shortly after midnight. By the time people realized what was happening, floodwaters had burst the river's banks and swept away children, vehicles and homes as the outer bands of Hurricane Melissa struck southern Haiti in late October.

One man escaped by climbing through a window, and a woman clung to a car while holding her son tightly to avoid being carried off; she survived but suffered a severely broken leg. Despite those narrow escapes, the Category 5 storm — among the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record — killed at least 43 people in Haiti, with most fatalities occurring in Petit-Goâve. More than a dozen people remain missing.

Public mourning and raw grief

The town gathered on Saturday to mourn. Eighteen coffins, topped with bright yellow and orange flowers, were carried into a public plaza for a communal farewell. Many of the caskets were small: Petit-Goâve lost at least 10 children in the storm. Grief mixed with guilt as survivors wept and wailed, and anger has surfaced over the perceived slowness of the government response.

"Where is my strength?!" cried Fanile Estinval, dressed in white to honor her two sons who died in the storm.

Relief efforts and growing health risks

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) says Hurricane Melissa affected about 1.25 million people across Haiti, with roughly 360,000 urgently needing food assistance. In Petit-Goâve alone, the WFP has distributed food to more than 40,000 people and plans to roll out cash transfers. Wanja Kaaria, WFP’s Haiti director, said the town — once a farming community with a bustling commercial center — lost about 90% of its fields, and market recovery will take time.

Kaaria also noted that, for the first time in a decade, the WFP was unable to preposition contingency stocks in southern Haiti ahead of the hurricane season because of funding shortfalls, hampering preparedness.

Health officials are worried about post-storm risks: UNICEF emergency specialist Boris Matous reported more than 30 suspected cholera cases and six deaths in Petit-Goâve. UNICEF teams are rehabilitating and chlorinating water pumps, installing hand-washing stations and setting up mobile clinics, but many affected areas remain hard to reach.

Damage, displacement and rising tensions

Hurricane Melissa damaged or destroyed more than 240 homes in Petit-Goâve, and hundreds more were flooded. Hundreds of people have lost their jobs and livelihoods. In recent days about 100 families were sheltering in a hotel and in a private house offered by its owner, according to Project Hope representative Sergile Henry, who also said two small children in a shelter remained separated from their parents.

Anger over perceived government inaction prompted plans for a protest along a major highway to press for faster and larger aid deliveries. Residents argue that better planning and infrastructure could have reduced the death toll.

Melissa also made landfall in Jamaica, where it killed at least 45 people. Haitian officials warn the recovery in Haiti will take months and will be complicated by deepening poverty, political instability, rising gang violence and a surge in hunger and disease.

Personal toll: Estinval, who lost her two sons, remained inconsolable. "A mother usually doesn't bury her children," she said. "When I die, who is going to bury me?"

Reporting by AP. Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.