Annette Benjamin tried to wait out the storm in her modest home. But when the floods came, the walls collapsed around her. Neighbors pulled the 53-year-old to safety, but everything she owned was gone.
For the next four days, Benjamin waded through the stinking river Rue Cristophe had become, trying not to step on the bodies buried in the muck. She was among tens of thousands desperately searching for food and clean water in a city of 160,000 that had less and less of both.
Help finally arrived Friday in the form of a giant container ship delivering the first aid to Gonaives since Tropical Storm Hanna hit. One of Benjamin’s daughters, a policewoman, had arranged for her to catch a ride to the capital on the ship’s way back.
“I almost died. My house is destroyed. I lost everything,” Benjamin said. “I cannot stay in Gonaives anymore, because they say the storms are going to return again.”
Indeed, Hurricane Ike, a dangerous Category 3 storm, was swirling in the Atlantic with 120-mph winds, and forecasters said it would almost certainly bring more rain to the region over the weekend…
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