The deadliness of a storm depends not just on its own strength but on the weaknesses of the country it hits. Though tropical storm Jeanne was less fierce than the preceding Atlantic hurricanes, it killed far more people: in hapless Haiti, more than 1,000 died and another 1,000 were missing after heavy rains last weekend triggered mudslides and flash floods. It was yet another blow to the poorest country in the Americas: in May, floods killed more than 1,000 in the east, while in February Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's president, was ousted amid political turmoil, armed rebellion and looting.
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