As Hurricane Sandy swirls off toward the U.S. East Coast, the Caribbean is mourning the storm-related deaths of at least 43 people and cleaning up wrecked homes, felled power lines and fallen tree branches, AP reported. While Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas took direct hits from the storm, the majority of deaths and most extensive damage was in Haiti, where it has rained almost non-stop since Tuesday. The death toll in Haiti stood at 29 Saturday, but officials worried that could rise. Officials and nearby residents expressed concern about the continuing rise of a muddy river in the northern part of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Sandy left dozens of families homeless when it barreled across Jamaica Wednesday as a Category 1 hurricane. One man was crushed to death by a boulder that tumbled into his house. Military officials on Saturday were carrying supplies and doctors to five communities in the southern mountainous region that had been cut off by floods. The storm hit eastern Cuba as a Category 2 hurricane early Thursday. Eleven people died in Santiago and Guantanamo provinces and official news media said the storm caused 5,000 houses to at least partially collapse while 30,000 others lost roofs. Banana, coffee, bean and sugar crops were damaged. The storm then churned into the Bahamas archipelago, toppling light posts, flooding roads and ripping down tree branches. Police said the British CEO of an investment bank died when he fell from his roof in upscale Lyford Cay late Thursday while trying to repair a window shutter. Officials at Deltec Bank & Trust identified him as Timothy Fraser-Smith, who became CEO in 2000. In Puerto Rico, police said a man in his 50s died Friday in the southern town of Juana Diaz, swept away in a river swollen by rain from Sandy's outer bands. Flooding forced at least 100 families in southwestern Puerto Rico to seek shelter. Authorities in the Dominican Republic evacuated more than 18,100 people after the storm destroyed several bridges and isolated at least 130 communities. Heavy rains and wind also damaged an estimated 3,500 homes.
