Respire Haiti’s local team is surveying flooded communities, identifying areas hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa, and coordinating relief efforts for families

The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage left behind.

Hurricane Melissa hit Haiti’s West department, killing at least 20 people, including 10 children, and leaving others missing. As of Wednesday, the unofficial death toll was 23 since the storm first began pummeling the country.

Gangs in Haiti took over 90 percent of the capital despite the presence of an armed United Nations mission. A new international force has a stronger mandate to fight the criminal groups, but faces the same challenges as its predecessor.

The mayor of a southern Haitian coastal town told The Associated Press that 25 people died after a river burst its banks and flooded nearby homes. Dozens of homes in Petit-Goâve collapsed, and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday morning,

A Bermudian aid worker told of a “nightmare” scenario engulfing the premises of the Feed My Lambs orphanage complex in Haiti, where much of the country has been overrun by armed gangs after years of

Soft tunes float from the D.J. booth at Lakou in Little Haiti, setting the rhythm for a laid-back October weekend night. One by one, patrons wander in — some linger over cocktails, others savor plates of Caribbean comfort food.