Hurricanes could batter earthquake-ravaged Haiti

With the possibility that the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could spread into the Caribbean, one might assume that this may be the main cause for worry during the hurricane season. Au contraire:

Relief workers are bracing for the extra-active hurricane season and hoping against hope that it does not unleash the kind of flooding and landslides which have killed thousands of Haitians in the past -- even without the kind of vulnerable situation that the poor Caribbean country now finds itself in.

"This is a prospect that we're certainly not happy about ... We don't want to have a secondary disaster on our hands," Julie Schindall, international media officer of Oxfam, said.

According to an estimate by Colorado State University researchers, the six-month season, which began last week, could say as many as 18 named tropical storms and five hurricanes rated category 3 and higher. Though this estimate is slightly lower than the one from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the odds are high that a major storm will wallop Haiti this year.

Image- ABC News (“A bulldozer removes debris from homes destroyed by the Jan. 12 earthquake, as people search for pieces of metal to sell in Port-au-Prince, Monday, June 7, 2010.”)
Online Sources- CTV, Reuters, NPR