Gustav death toll 77 in Haiti, eight missing

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) — Hurricane storm Gustav killed 77 people and left eight others missing when it barreled through Haiti last week, officials here said Monday.

Officials said another 36 people were injured by the storm, which last week struck the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti -- the hemisphere's most impoverished country -- as a Category One hurricane.

Gustav regained hurricane strength as it plowed through the Cayman Islands and Cuba, and then battered the US Gulf coast on Monday as a Category Two hurricane.

Officials here said some 15,000 Haitian families were affected by the storm, which leveled some 3,000 dwellings and damaged another 11,458.

© 2008 AFP