Haiti Death Toll Jumps to 19 After Tropical Storm

A government official says that Haiti’s death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac has jumped to 19.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste of the country’s Civil Protection Office gave few details on how each person died in the storm that drenched Haiti over the weekend.

That puts the total regional death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac at 21. Two people died in the neighboring Dominican Republic after they were swept away in a river.

Some of the Haitians died because their homes fell on top of them.

Haiti is prone to flooding and mudslides because much of the country is heavily deforested and rainwater rushes down barren mountainsides.

Jean-Baptiste gave the new figures in an interview on a private radio station.