PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The death toll in Haiti following widespread flooding in the north has reached 1,600, according to officials Monday, with hundreds of people still missing.
Tensions were high among residents of the worst-hit city, Gonaives, where widespread looting and violence prompted U.N. peacekeepers to send additional reinforcements to assist in distributing food supplies from international donors.
The U.N. force is primarily in Haiti to maintain stability and security while the nation's interim government prepares for elections, to be held sometime next year. In February, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country amid increasing violence and threats from armed rebel groups.
However the focus of the U.N.'s mission appears to have, at least temporarily, shifted to maintaining order in Gonaives, where gunmen have been stealing relief supplies.
Last week's Tropical Storm Jeanne drenched Gonaives' 200,000 residents, flooding the city and leaving many people without food or fresh water.
Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said officials were continuing their efforts to supply tents to the thousands left homeless by Jeanne.
In May, devastating floods in the southern part of Haiti, near the Dominican Republic border, killed more than 3,000 people.
