Haiti is extremely vulnerable to flash floods and mudslides because most of its hillsides have been stripped bare and also Haiti is surrounded by warm waters.
Cutting down trees to make charcoal to sell for fuel is a last resort for many rural Haitians who have no other income between harvests.
Starting with European colonists who cut down forests to plant indigo and sugar cane, humans gradually destroyed the native hillside root systems.
The dense, plantation-style root system was an imperfect replacement that eventually gave rise to small, crop-killing floods in the valleys.
By the 20th century, the government had begun to plant trees in place of crops to help fight floods and landslides.
Unfortunately, poverty became so rampant toward the end of the century that villagers began cutting down the trees and turning them into charcoal, which they then sold for food. Without crops or trees on the hills, the soil lost most of its water-holding capacity, leading to flash floods and frequent mudslides.
Haiti is also surrounded by the warm waters (approximately 26.5 degrees Celsius) that can supply the thermal energy necessary for the formation of thunderstorm clusters.
While the Haitian environment has adapted to heavy seasonal rainfall, 5-foot deluges easily overpowered the island's geography.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November in the Caribbean, posing a threat to coastal communities when tropical storms and hurricanes generate storm surges and trigger landslides and flash floods.
An average season has 10 tropical storms, of which six strengthen into hurricanes.
Elsewhere in Latin America, torrential rains between December and May can swamp agricultural land, destroy livelihoods, damage homes and services and force mass evacuations.
In early 2008, devastating floods hit several countries, including Haiti as a weather abnormality known as La Nina brought some of the heaviest rains in a quarter-century, swelling rivers and bursting banks.
Meaning "little girl" in Spanish, La Nina is an unusual cooling of Pacific Ocean surface temperatures that can trigger more hurricanes and worse rains in many places.
Posted by The Media on 3/18/10 9:13 AM
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