Tropical Cyclone Report - National Hurricane Center - NOAA

direct or indirect since post-storm reports from several agencies listed various causes for the 24
deaths (such as mud slides and electrocution from downed power lines) without direct
attribution. Haiti’s Civil Protection Office cited a few specific cases, including a 51-year-old
woman who died in the southern coastal town of Marigot after a tree fell on her home and a 10year-old
girl in the village of Thomazeau who died when a wall collapsed on her. Five direct
deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic, two of which occurred when men were swept
away by flooded rivers in separate incidents.
Five direct deaths were reported in the United States. A 62-year-old woman in
Lexington, Mississippi, and a 52-year-old man in Picayune, Mississippi, died when strong winds
blew trees onto their cars. A 75-year-old man died in Slidell, Louisiana, when he drove his car
off an Interstate 10 on-ramp and drowned in 9 ft of water in a roadside ditch. In addition, a
couple in their mid-40s was found drowned in their house from storm surge that overtopped a
levee in Braithwaite, Louisiana.
The Property Claim Services of the Insurance Services Office estimates that the insured
damage in the United States from Isaac is about $970 million. In addition, the National Flood
Insurance Program has paid out about $407 million for losses due to storm surge and inland
flooding. Adjusting for non-insured losses, the total U.S. damage estimate is about $2.35 billion.
Damage in the eastern Caribbean was minimal and largely related to flooding from heavy
rains. A slow-moving band of showers and thunderstorms extending to the south of Isaac
produced significant flooding and landslides in Trinidad and Tobago, damaging homes in several
cities. Some flooding was reported in the eastern and southern regions of Puerto Rico, where
about 4,000 people lost electricity and 3,000 were without water. Mud slides closed several
roads, and a bridge was washed out in the southern part of the island.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
released a report on 4 September stating that in addition to the 24 deaths, 42 people were injured
during the storm and 3 people were missing in Haiti. The Ouest and Sud-Est departments were
most severely affected by the storm, with storm surge, freshwater flooding, and landslides
affecting areas from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel and westward across the southwestern peninsula.
The Haitian people were particularly vulnerable to the hazards associated with Isaac since many
were still living in camps that were set up after the devastating January 2010 earthquake. The
OCHA report stated that nearly 15,000 families were evacuated and 218 camps were affected by
the storm. About 6,000 people in the camps lost shelters, and an additional 1,000 houses were
reported destroyed. Concerns over the spread of cholera and food security due to the damage to
crops increased after Isaac affected the country. The Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported
that Isaac caused an estimated loss of 336 million Haitian gourdes (about 8 million USD) to the
electricity network in the country.
Damage in Cuba was less severe. The Miami Herald reported that almost 50,000 people
evacuated to higher ground during the storm. The storm destroyed 4 and damaged 19 homes in
Baracoa, and 72 homes were flooded by the Sagua de Tánamo River in Holguín province. Isaac
also knocked down power lines and damaged about 1,100 acres of plantain, cocoa, and coconut
plants in the region. In the Dominican Republic, almost 13,000 people evacuated their homes,
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