AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Shawwal 08, 1433, August 26, 2012, SPA -- The death toll in Haiti from Tropical Storm Isaac has climbed to seven after an initial report of four deaths, AP quoted the Haitian government as saying on Sunday. Joseph Edgard Celestin of Haiti's Civil Protection Office offered few details on how each person died but noted that one man was swept away as he tried to cross a river in a village in northern Haiti. In a separate report, the Civil Protection Office said a 51-year-old woman was killed in the southern coastal town of Marigot after a tree fell on her home. A 10-year-old girl was killed in the village of Thomazeau after a wall collapsed on her. The number of people evacuated due to flooding also rose. More than 14,000 people have left their homes throughout the country and another 13,500 people were living in temporary shelters, the Civil Protection Office reported. Some 8,400 evacuees were in the country's western department, the most populous and where the capital of Port-au-Prince is located. A dozen houses were destroyed and another 269 damaged, the government reported. Four people were injured, including a man who fell from a tree. Impoverished Haiti is prone to flooding and mudslides because much of the country is heavily deforested and rainwater rushes down barren mountainsides. The center of Tropical Storm Isaac passed Haiti's southern peninsula early Saturday and caused flooding in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere but no major damage.
