The Haitian government announced Tuesday that the death toll from Hurricane Melissa has risen to 43, with 13 people still missing.
Crews continued to contact people in the southwestern region of the country, where landslides and flooding have destroyed more than 30 communities.
At least 25 people were killed in the southwestern coastal town of Petit Goave, one of the worst-hit areas.
The Category 5 storm, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, flooded about 12,000 homes and destroyed about 200 others after its outer band hit Haiti last week. Many roads remain impassable.
The government has warned that drinking water is in short supply in several areas and announced that it will soon distribute seeds and tools to farmers facing large agricultural losses.
More than 1,700 people remain in evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, in nearby Jamaica, crews were trying to reach more than 20 communities that have remained cut off since Melissa made landfall on October 28.
The storm has killed at least 32 people in Jamaica, with authorities warning the number will rise.
Mike Bassett, president of World Vision International, a Christian disaster relief and development organization, said a humanitarian crisis could occur if aid is not delivered quickly.
“I’ve been doing this job for over 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Bassett said Tuesday while in Jamaica.
He said that when he visited hurricane-hit areas such as Chester Castle and Cambridge, he saw people bathing in rivers and fetching water for drinking due to electricity and water shortages caused by the hurricane.
World Vision is one of a growing list of international aid agencies and volunteers who manage aid on their own or in collaboration with Jamaican authorities.
“Relief flights are arriving at a rapid rate and there is no shortage of supplies,” said Transport and Energy Minister Darryl Vaz, co-chair of a special committee set up to streamline the government’s relief and recovery efforts.
Parnell Charles Jr., head of Jamaica’s Ministry of Social Security, said relief efforts were being stepped up.
“We are working with all available resources,” Charles said, rejecting complaints that not enough was being done to get help to survivors of the attack quickly enough.
