Devastating tornado ravages Haïti’s Bassin-Bleu, destroying over 100 homes and injuring many

NEW YORK- A tornado swept through Haïti’s northwestern town of Bassin-Bleu—about 122 miles north of Port-au-Prince—on May 21, around 1:30 p.m., injured more than 40 people, destroyed over 100 homes, toppled trees, smashed cars and widely strewn debris. Bassin Bleu Mayor Antony Manigat has urgently requested assistance to provide relief to the injured, as well as food and water for the displaced victims.

Manigat described the event as unprecedented.

“I had never seen that in my life,” Manigat said to The Haïtian Times in a telephone interview. “It was a rain of metal sheets in the air.”

Chrisnette Saint-Georges, who leads the Haitian Hydrometeorological Unit (UHM), issued a bad weather alert for the Northwest Department for Tuesday afternoon. “But we did not expect such a strong wind accompanied by rain to cause all this damage,” Manigat explained, asking the population to remain vigilant of potential heavy rains and landslides. 

The tornado lasted around 35 minutes and mainly hit La Source, a locality part of the La Plate communal section, resulting in multiple injuries and significant damage. Most of the injured victims are displaced families from Ti Boukan, another neighboring village, fleeing gang violence. They were previously displaced by Ti Bwadòm gangs, Manigat said. Some victims are school students; many had just been dismissed, while others had only just arrived at the school facilities. 

Mayor Manigat said the injuries sustained by the victims are serious and appealed for urgent help for the Hospital Bon Samaritain (Good Samaritan Hospital), the only hospital treating the injured. No fatalities have been reported yet.

In the aftermath of the tornado, Bassin Bleu localities appeared devastated with piles of broken wood, branches, and other debris littering lots where homes once stood. Trees and electrical poles are scattered all over the roads, blocking access to them. The Mayor said that the winds were so powerful that they blew a parked container in the air.

Bassin-Bleu is a commune of approximately 34,000 people, about 17 miles south of Port-de-Paix, the main city of the country’s Northwest Department.

Mayor Manigat called for help and emergency materials for Hospital Bon Samaritain, which received and treated all the injured, many of whom had deep wounds. He highlighted the lack of basic healthcare supplies at the hospital, such as gauze, alcohol, and bandages.

Many of the displaced individuals have sought refuge in the town hall and a building owned by the mayor, and they are in urgent need of food, water and basic necessities, Manigat said.

As of this writing, there is no official report on the total number of injured individuals or the extent of the damages.

Dominique Pierre, Hospital Bon Samaritain’s administrator, said Tuesday afternoon that he recorded approximately 36 injuries, and the number continued to rise. “It is the first time in my life that I have witnessed such a whirlwind in the commune of Bassin-Bleu,” Pierre said.

Kervenson Martial from Port-de-Paix contributed to this report 

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