Jeanne

Haiti death toll at 573, expected to increase

GONAIVES, Haiti - The death toll from a tropical storm that devastated parts of Haiti rose to 573 late Monday as search crews recovered hundreds of bodies carried away by raging weekend floods or buried by mud or the ruins of their homes, officials said.

The bodies of at least 500 killed by Tropical Storm Jeanne were filling morgues in Gonaives, according to Touissant Kong-Doudou, a spokesman for the U.N. mission. Fifty-six were killed in northern Port-de-Paix and 17 died in the nearby town of Terre Neuve, officials said.

"The water is high. As it goes down, we expect to find more bodies," Kong-Doudou said.

Two days after lashing Haiti, Jeanne regained hurricane strength over the open Atlantic on Monday but posed no immediate threat to land. Jeanne has been blamed for at least 598 deaths, including 18 in the Dominican Republic and seven in Puerto Rico.

At 5 p.m., Jeanne was centered about 370 miles east-northeast of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, with winds near 85 mph, moving northeast at about 7 mph. Hurricane Karl and Tropical Storm Lisa remained far out in the Atlantic and were not immediate threats to land. Karl's sustained winds diminished to 120 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane. Lisa had winds of 60 mph.

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