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Haiti hit by hurricane, 5 dead

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 8 (UPI) -- Hurricane Dennis slammed into Haiti killing at least five people in the latest natural disaster to befall the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Haitian radio reported a bridge collapsed over a raging river swollen by the rains killing four. Another person died when a tree fell on a house in a southern city. Several people were missing and feared dead in the flooding.

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Heavy rains pounded the country's southern coast and neighboring Dominican Republic Friday. The U.S. Hurricane center in Miami said Dennis, now an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane with 135 mph winds, could reach U.S. soil by either Sunday or Monday.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Dennis was about 230 miles southeast of Havana moving northwest a 12 mph, the hurricane center said.

Haiti was hard-hit by rains that killed more than 1,500 people in floods last September.

More than 3,000 people died in May 2004 in the south of Haiti and in the Dominican Republic.

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