PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – It was the jewel of Haiti’s post-earthquake recovery: an organized relocation camp with thousands of tents billed as hurricane-resistant, lined up in neat rows on graded mountain soil.

Now, staring down a possible hit later this week from a hurricane, officials say Corail-Cesselesse is not safe. On Tuesday, the government advised the estimated 7,850 residents of its primary relocation camp to ride out the storm somewhere else.

“We’re asking people in Corail to voluntarily move from where they are and go to the houses of family or friends. The places the government has identified are churches and schools that are available for shelter from the storm,” Haiti civil protection official Abel Nazaire told the AP.

Camp managers held a “loudspeaker meeting” with megaphones to tell residents about the evacuation order, said Bryant Castro, the American Refugee Committee staffer managing the camp.

A hurricane over the weekend, Tomas weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph. The National Hurricane Center in Miami projected it to reach Haiti by Friday.

“This short-term trend is sort of baffling at this point,” said Dave Roberts, hurricane specialist at center. “We expected it to at least maintain tropical storm strength, but it really has weakened considerably.”

 

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