Evacuations planned after Haiti lake bursts banks

LAKE AZUEI


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Aid officials say they plan to evacuate as many as 1,000 stranded villagers because the country's largest lake has overflowed its banks after weeks of steady showers.

Leonard Doyle of the International Organization for Migration says two or three villages near Lake Azuei are surrounded by water after brackish lake burst its banks overnight.

Humanitarian groups are planning to evacuate flood victims by boat.

Canals that are supposed to stabilize the lake's water level are clogged with trash.

Lake Azuei straddles the Haitian-Dominican border and has seen flooding for years.

Haiti has seen weeks of downpours as the rainy season shifts into the hurricane season, which began last week.