Hurricane Florence Took Piles of Haiti's Trash to North Carolina Beaches

A rush of ocean water invaded the streets on the southern end of North Carolina's Hatteras Island on Thursday. The span of the Hurricane-force winds was out for 80 miles and the tropical-storm-force winds reach 195 miles out from the center. The storm's first casualties, which included a mother and her baby were killed when a tree fell on their brick house in Wilmington, North Carolina. The child's father was taken to a hospital. Till today, the death toll from Hurricane Florence has risen to 51-- the last victim was a man, 69, died when he fell from a roof in Pender County on Sept. 22 while cleaning debris.

Following the Hurricane, residents of the storm affected areas found that piles of trash from Haiti and the Dominican Republic strewn across miles of North Carolina beaches. Brightly colored products labeled in Spanish and French were lodged in the sand. Some of the Haitian trashes floating in the ocean were made up of plastic bottles for things such as shampoo, vinegar, deodorant and ketchup. The shoreline between these countries is over 1,100 miles away. Once, the Caribbean island nation of Haiti used to be famous for its pristine beaches. Now the nation has labeled itself as the most beautiful garbage dump in the world. According to Global Communities, an international nonprofit organization, the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince alone produces between 1,400 and 1,600 metric tons of waste each day,

In the northern coastal town of Cap Haitien, marine biologist Jean Wiener is trying to convince Haitians of the need to protect the sea.

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