Escaping Gonaives: A Survivor's Story

By Kai T. Hill

Pierre Gaston and his 5-year-old daughter Jennifer walk hand in hand down the main road in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. They utter few words and walk in a slow stride.Once they reach the sprawling black gates of Notre Dame D'Haiti parish, their easy stroll contrasts with the bustling courtyard where volunteers are hastily sorting through piles of donated supplies bound for flood-stricken Haiti.

The recent series of storms—hurricanes Gustav and Ike and tropical storms Fay and Hanna—is what brings Pierre and everyone else to the predominantly Haitian parish this sweltering September day. The parish is a main collection post for donations that have poured in from around the community. While the volunteers, all of Haitian descent, have only mental images of how the flood disaster unfolded, Pierre and Jennifer's eyes reveal a tragedy seen firsthand.

It was just three weeks ago that the slender 38-year-old engineer saw his life flash before his eyes as floodwaters raged through his home. Pierre lives in Gonaives, Haiti—one of the most devastated sections of the country—where lakes formed around homes and roadways. He remembers venturing out amid rising floodwaters. He left his friend's house from a second story to buy food at a nearby convenience store. On the way, he stepped in an unseen hole. With water up to his chest, he said, he nearly drowned before escaping the hole.

Pierre's tone is matter-of-fact, his expression stoic as he recalls spending days without food before escaping Gonaives with his family.

Like thousands of Haitians, Pierre's nightmare began the day that Tropical Storm Hanna's rains persisted for more than 24 hours.

When Hanna thrust onto Haiti's shores around September 2, the French Creole-speaking nation had just endured a flurry of wind, rains and floods brought by Gustav. Torrential rains poured down from the middle of the night until late the next day.

Residents began to worry as the heavy rains continued. Pierre, who lives with his wife and two small children, received a phone call that his neighbor's house was flooded. Panic rose with a second call Pierre received a short time later. "[The neighbor] said that we have to move away. If not, we're going to lose our lives," he recounts with the help of a translator. At that point, he says, he gathered important documents from his home and hurried his family to the second floor of a neighbor's house. There, the group holed up without food for several days.

Pierre also showed photos and video of floodwater racing through his street in Gonaives. The muddy water, uprooted palm trees, sunken trucks and overflowing rivers formed a scene that he says he will never forget. Just seeing the pictures left the parish's Associate Pastor, Father Jadotte, speechless.

Escaping the Horror

Fortunately, Pierre's friends—traveling from Port-au-Prince—were able to drive across back roads into Gonaives. Pierre and his family rode with them to the Port-au-Prince airport, where Pierre and Jennifer caught a plane to Miami to stay with his aunt. His wife and 2-year-old son Pedriny joined family in Boston.

Pierre said it was a Friday when his family left Gonaives. The next day, the bridge they traveled across to escape Gonaives collapsed under the pounding rain and howling winds of Hurricane Ike.

Catholic Relief Services staff and assessment teams took similar back roads to reach Gonaives in the days after Hanna hit. Our trucks slogged through murky water to distribute water, food and emergency supplies to thousands of residents. In Gonaives alone, the entire population of about 350,000 is in need. Upon reaching the town by boat, CRS program manager for Haiti, Greg Elder, says he was struck by the mud-caked buildings that lined the streets.

"People were scooping out bucketfuls of water or shoveling through the 3 to 4 feet of mud that Ike and Hanna had dumped into their homes," he reports in a recent blog entry. "Overturned vehicles were everywhere, also cars and trucks that had either gotten stuck in the mud or had tried to cross while the water was rising."

One of the first relief distributions in Gonaives was to the home of the Monsignor Yves Marie Péan, Bishop of Gonaives, who sent an urgent appeal for help on September 5. Hundreds of residents were trapped in his home with no food, water or electricity.

Many families in this seaside city lacked food before the storm season began. Many homes that were humble to begin with are now filled with several feet of mud, while others are completely destroyed. Businesses remain shut down. When schools reopen, already strapped parents will have an even harder time paying for fees.

Pierre is uncertain of how he will rebuild. But he was fortunate, he says, to make it out and have his family safe and alive. His fears have now turned to the residents left behind.

"A lot of children are suffering because the sanitation situation is bad. People are getting sick from the water," Pierre says. His aunt Marie-Ange says that her other 8-year-old niece had to be rescued from a roof by United Nations officers. The girl became sick after taking refuge on the open roof. Exposed to the rain, she had no food or water.

A City in Peril

Gonaives, the fourth-largest city in Haiti, is located on a floodplain that sits along Haiti's northwest peninsula. Severe deforestation throughout the country has deepened the effects of passing storms. Residents of Gonaives also attribute the country's flood problems to poor drainage and lack of adequate infrastructure. In the town's heyday, residents remember, a landscape of lush farmland and joyous celebrations.

But the last few years have been marked by devastation. In 2004, Gonaives was at the center of a major humanitarian effort when Tropical Storm Jeanne left the city underwater. More than 2,000 residents perished. Pierre says the recent barrage of storms—Faye, Gustav, Hanna and Ike—was worse than Jeanne. After Jeanne, CRS helped rebuild a major hospital that provides much-needed health care to the community. But the facility was destroyed by the combined forces of Gustav and Hanna.

"Before the hurricane, Gonaives people were trying to get their lives together," says Pierre. "Then this happens."

As Pierre concludes his story, rain clouds start to form over Miami. It drizzles, then pours, becoming a grim reminder of Gonaives and conditions throughout Haiti. Just four months ago, the parish was collecting money and food for Haitians feeling the sting of the global food crisis, which had more than doubled the price of staple foods. The floods have set islanders back even further. Crops that would have brought a measure of relief from the food crisis were wiped out by the floods.

When disaster strikes Haiti, CRS, our local partners and parishes across the United States are on the front lines to provide relief. Generous donations to CRS' Latin America and Caribbean Severe Weather Fund allow our staff in the field to respond to disasters immediately and plan long-term solutions. CRS is also helping Haiti's bishops obtain a warehouse to store incoming goods while they await distribution.

"The most important aspect of our work is getting food and water to hungry and thirsty people. Saving lives, helping people day-by-day until they get back on their feet, that's our priority," says Elder. "We've started our cash-for-work program and have undertaken the task of clearing away debris and helping to reopen roads. Slowly, if the rains subside, we'll be able to get Haiti back on its feet."

CRS' Work in Haiti

With more than 50 years of experience in Haiti, CRS is now one of the largest U.S. humanitarian organizations working in the country. Serving nearly 200,000 of the poorest and most marginalized Haitians, our projects provide assistance with health and nutrition, disaster recovery, education, water and sanitation, HIV and AIDS, agriculture, and migration.

Kai T. Hill is an associate web producer for CRS. She works at the Baltimore headquarters.