Small-scale flooding reported in Gonaives, northwest Haitian city housing quake refugees

Small-scale flooding reported in northwest Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian civil protection officials say rains have caused small floods in the northwestern city of Gonaives.

Civil protection director Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste said Wednesday night there had been no reports of injuries or damage to property.

Much of the country is under an “orange alert” for more serious floods caused by a rain-producing Caribbean system.

Gonaives is on the coast northwest of Port-au-Prince and was not directly affected by the Jan. 12 quake, but it received refugees from the capital.

The city is surrounded by denuded mountains and has twice been inundated during tropical storms since 2004, with thousands of lives lost.