According to emergency officials, at least 42 people perished in Haiti after excessive rain triggered widespread flooding over the weekend.

Another 11 people are still missing, and over 13,000 people have been displaced as a result of the damage to their homes.

Léogâne, south-west of the capital Port-au-Prince, has been impacted the hardest, with three rivers bursting their banks.

Half of the impoverished Caribbean island nation’s departments are affected.

The floods destroyed Phania Cange’s home in Léogâne.

She saved one of her children, but her five-year-old died in the flood: “I risked losing two (children), but God left the other hanging in a tree.”

Léogâne Mayor Ernson Henry described the city’s population as “desperate.”

“They have nothing left. “The waters have ravaged their fields and washed away their livestock,” he told AFP.

There are concerns that the death toll will increase further.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said his administration was “taking urgent measures” to cope with the crisis in collaboration with foreign partners.

According to the World Food Programme, the organization will begin serving hot meals to those who have been relocated.

Images on local television show people wading through enormous torrents of brown water.

Several destructive earthquakes have harmed the country’s infrastructure.

The continuous problem of criminal gangs controlling many districts in Haiti complicates rescue attempts.