Haiti: Death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac rises to 19

Haiti’s death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac has jumped to 19, while five people have died in the neighboring Dominican Republic, government officials said.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste of Haiti’s Civil Protection Office gave few details on how each person died in the storm that drenched Haiti over the weekend.

That puts the total regional death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac at 24. Among other fatalities, three drowned to death in the Dominican Republic.

Some of the Haitians died because their homes fell on top of them. Six others in Haiti are missing and 22 people were injured.

Haiti is prone to flooding and mudslides because much of the country is heavily deforested and rainwater rushes down barren mountainsides.

Jean-Baptiste gave the new figures in an interview on a private radio station.

Officials say that almost 30,000 people in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic were evacuated from their homes.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press