Throughout its history, Haiti has suffered cyclones, hurricanes, tropical storms, torrential rains, floods, famine, disease and earthquakes.
The hurricane season in Haiti lasts from June to the end of November.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of natural disasters which have struck Haiti. [1]
2022
2023
The Republic of Haiti comprises the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola, west of the Dominican Republic. Haiti is positioned east of the neighboring island of Cuba, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.
All of the major transportation systems in Haiti are located near or run through the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Ouest (French) or Lwès is one of the ten departments of Haiti. It is located in south-central Haiti, linking the Great-North and the Tiburon Peninsula.
Nord-Ouest (French) or Nòdwès is one of the ten departments of Haiti as well as the northernmost one. It has an area of 2,102.88 km2 (811.93 sq mi) and a population of 728,807. Its capital is Port-de-Paix.
Sud-Est (French) or Sidès is one of the ten departments of Haiti located in southern Haiti. It has an area of 2,034.10 km2 and a population of 632,601 (2015). Its capital is Jacmel.
Tropical Storm Alpha was the 23rd tropical or subtropical storm of the extremely active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It developed from Tropical Depression Twenty-Five in the eastern Caribbean Sea on October 22, 2005. As the 21 pre-designated storm names had been exhausted, it was given the first name on the auxiliary list, which utilized the letters of the Greek alphabet. This was the first hurricane season ever to trigger this naming protocol, and the only one until the 2020 season.
Nippes (French) or Nip is one of the ten departments of Haiti located in southern Haiti. It is the most recently created department, having been split from Grand'Anse in 2003. The capital of the department is Miragoâne, and it is the least populous department in Haiti.
In the administrative divisions of Haiti, the department is the first of four levels of government. Haiti is divided administratively into ten departments, which are further subdivided into 42 arrondissements, 145 communes, and 571 communal sections.
The Tiburon Peninsula, or The Xaragua Peninsula, simply "the Tiburon", is a region of Haiti encompassing most of Haiti's southern coast. It starts roughly at the southernmost point of the Haiti-Dominican Republic border and extends westward near Cuba, forming a large headland. Three of Haiti's ten departments are located entirely within the region. They are the departments of Grand'Anse, Nippes and Sud.
Belle-Anse is a commune in the Belle-Anse Arrondissement, in the Sud-Est department of Haiti. It has 51,707 inhabitants.
The 1909 Greater Antilles hurricane was a rare, late-season tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage and loss of life in Jamaica and Haiti, and the wettest Atlantic hurricane on record. Forming out of a large disturbance in early November, the hurricane began as a minimal tropical storm over the southwestern Caribbean on November 8. Slowly tracking northeastward, the system gradually intensified. Late on November 11, the storm brushed the eastern tip of Jamaica before attaining hurricane status. The following afternoon, the storm made landfall in northwest Haiti with winds of 85 mph (135 km/h). After moving over the Atlantic Ocean, the hurricane further intensified and attained its peak winds of 105 mph (170 km/h) on November 13. The system rapidly transitioned into an extratropical cyclone the following day before being absorbed by a frontal system northeast of the Lesser Antilles.
The Haitian Basketball Federation (FHB) is the governing body of basketball in Haiti. It was founded in 1970 and members of the FIBA since its formation.
In early July 2005, Hurricane Dennis brushed the southern coast of Haiti and produced deadly flash flooding across the nation. Forming from a tropical depression on July 4, Dennis began impacting Haiti two days later with heavy rains. Civil authorities and international agencies acted quickly to protect lives, ordering evacuations—approximately 1,000 people complied—and prepositioning emergency supplies. Over the subsequent two days, the hurricane's outer bands continued to impact the nation before effects abated. Widespread flash floods and landslides caused substantial damage, with areas along the Tiburon Peninsula taking the brunt of the impact. A bridge collapse near Grand-Goâve left 15 people dead or missing.
Hurricane Matthew struck southwestern Haiti near Les Anglais on October 4, 2016, leaving widespread damage in the impoverished nation. Matthew was a late-season Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, having formed in the southeastern Caribbean on September 28. The hurricane weakened to Category 4 before making landfall near Les Anglais on October 4, at which time the National Hurricane Center estimated maximum sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph). This made it the strongest storm to hit the nation since Hurricane Cleo in 1964, and the third strongest Haitian landfall on record. Hurricane-force winds – 119 km/h (74 mph) or greater – affected about 1.125 million people in the country. The Haitian government assessed the death toll at 546, although other sources reported more than three times that figure.
Hispaniola is an island in the Caribbean, with the second largest size throughout all of the Caribbean. Throughout the centuries, since reliable records began, hundreds of hurricanes and tropical cyclones have affected Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries that share the island. The most recent tropical cyclone to affect Hispaniola was Hurricane Fiona in September 2022.
On 2–3 June 2023, heavy rains caused destructive flooding across Haiti. Western areas of the country were particularly hard-hit. At least 51 people were killed, 140 were injured, and 11 were reported missing as of 6 June.