Rescue workers are rushing food, drinking water and first-aid kits to a remote Haitian town submerged by floods that killed an estimated 2,150 people on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
An official on Wednesday reported 1,000 deaths in Mapou, a village southeast of Haiti's capital, dramatically raising the death toll from flash floods and mudslides triggered by torrential rains in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Helicopters provided by the 3,500-member US-led peacekeeping force carried loads of beans, rice, water-purification tablets, shovels and other emergency supplies to Mapou, and to Fond Verettes, a border town where at least 158 died.
Across the border in the Dominican Republic, authorities prepared to spray disinfectant from aircraft over Jimani to prevent the spread of disease from decomposing bodies. Overnight floods in the town killed hundreds and washed some bodies into a lake full of crocodiles.
The toll in Haiti stood at about 1,800, while 350 bodies had been recovered in the Dominican Republic, mostly in Jimani.
Foreign troops sent to Haiti by the United Nations after a rebellion in February turned to relief efforts, providing helicopter flights to aid agencies trying to reach survivors isolated when roads were washed out across southeastern Haiti.
Heavy rains last weekend sent rivers of mud and debris through villages, sweeping away shanties and burying residents on both sides of the Haiti-Dominican Republic border.
Haiti is facing its worst natural disaster in years less than three months after a rebellion killed more than 200 people and helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.