Haiti raises storm death toll to from 425 to nearly 800

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The death toll from four storms that ravaged Haiti this summer has nearly doubled to about 800 people, authorities in the Caribbean nation said Friday. Civil defense director Maria-Alta Jean Baptiste said 793 bodies had been found so far and authorities were still pulling more from the mud that swamped coastal settlements. She said that 466 bodies had been found in the hard-hit town of Gonaives alone. The four tropical storms that struck in late August and early September also wiped out at least 60 percent of Haitian agriculture and destroyed roads, bridges and homes. The government had previously said 425 people died in the storms.