GONAIVES, Haiti -Authorities readied mass graves for the putrefying bodies of northern Haiti's flood victims, feared to number as many as 1,700, as calls went out for international relief to aid the Western Hemisphere's poorest countryBecause of the situation of the bodies, we have decided to bury the dead in mass graves," said Interior Minister Herard Abraham.
In the northern city of Gonaives, which had 600 of the 711 confirmed deaths, morgues ran out of space and had no electricity for refrigeration, and bodies rotted in the sweltering heat.
The stench was almost unbearable in this city of 100,000, where carcasses of goats and cows littered the ground and open sewers spewed into the streets.
Authorities said they feared the confirmed death toll of 711 would rise dramatically. Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said that in Gonaives alone, 1,000 people were missing and feared dead.
Rescue crews battled to get to areas in the north of the country that have been cut off by mud or high water. And officials pointed out that several bodies had washed out to sea, some turning up on the island of La Tortue.
In addition, about 400 people were injured, many by falling roofs or homes that collapsed because of the weekend floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne.
In Gonaives, 450 houses were destroyed, according to the Haitian Civil Protection Office.
It said that in all, 250,000 people had to flee their homes, and aid agencies say many people were left with nothing.
Relief crews were setting up distribution centers in Gonaives Wednesday to hand out a first shipment of 40 tonnes of emergency food trucked in from Port-au-Prince.
Also on the list of supplies needed in the area were bodybags and medical supplies.
"Given the contamination of water sources and the flooding of latrines, there are concerns about possible outbreaks of water-related diseases," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.
Aid officials say it will take months and vast amounts of aid to help the disaster areas, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the world community to help Haiti recover from the devastation.
"The secretary general urges the international community to quickly provide Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, the support it needs to recover from this devastating natural disaster," said a spokesman for Annan.
Relief officials said rebuilding Gonaives' Providence hospital would be a crucial task.
The hospital was ravaged by the floods, and witnesses said about 250 of the 300 patients were killed, or were missing. "We could only save the babies we carried to the roof," said nurse Helelald Wilner.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF sent a team to look for children orphaned by the killer floods.
"We have reports of abandoned children, either because their parents were killed or because they got lost," said Francoise Gruloos, who heads the UNICEF mission in Haiti.
The teams also planned to hand out balloons and games for children, "so there can at least be a semblance of joy," said Gruloos.
Amid fears of looting, security remained a concern as many policemen deserted their posts and hundreds of prisoners escaped in Gonaives during the floods.
Despite the deployment of nearly 3,000 UN peacekeepers, crime has risen in Haiti since former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed under opposition pressure and fled the country in February.
The International Committee of the Red Cross Wednesday appealed for 2.7 million euros in aid, to provide food, cooking utensils, mosquito nets, water purification tables and first aid kits to 40,000 people for the next six months.
Ranked among the world's poorest nations, Haiti had been further impoverished by flooding, which killed more than 1,200 people in May, as well as civil strife that left dozens dead earlier in the year.
In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, authorities said the storm killed 27 people. There were also nine dead in the Bahamas and two in Puerto Rico.
Jeanne was just the latest in a string of powerful, deadly storms to slam the Americas this year.
Hurricane Ivan, responsible for more than 130 deaths in the United States and the Caribbean, finally petered out over the weekend, but countries in the region were still reeling from the destruction left in its wake.