Haitians flee Gonaives before Ike reaches island

With a tropical storm warning issued Saturday for Gonaives and other parts of Haiti, some residents climbed on top of cars to reach the second floor of their homes, where they had piled up furniture and spread sheets to provide shade, said Holly Inurreta of Catholic Relief Services.

"We are very concerned about Ike," she said. "Any bit more of rain and Gonaives will be cut off again."

Police Commissioner Ernst Dorfeuille told The Associated Press on Saturday that a news report the previous evening that quoted him as saying 495 bodies had been found in Gonaives from Tropical Storm Hanna was completely wrong. He told AP there were 32 confirmed deaths in this city on Haiti's west coast from the storm that hit on Monday.

Ike, a Category 4 hurricane, was expected to skirt northern Haiti late Saturday and Sunday.

Wesley Sijuen, a 28-year-old father of twins and a 3-year-old son, trudged through heavy mud with seven of his relatives to reach a convent at a nearby mountaintop. His brother-in-law, 28-year-old Jean Emmanuel, said numerous Haitians were fleeing Gonaives.

"Everyone is trying to save themselves," Emmanuel said.

One gray-haired woman left on the back of a motorbike, balancing a bucket of silverware, glasses and other kitchen items on her head.

In the city, U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers delivered high-energy biscuits and water to famished residents, many of whom had not eaten since Monday.

"What I saw in this city today is close to hell on earth," U.N. envoy Hedi Annabi said as he toured the region on Saturday.