People affected by Saturday's earthquake recover their belongings under the rain of Tropical Depression Grace at a refugee camp in Les Cayes, Haiti, 1. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn) Expand
A woman shelters from the rain under a tarp in a makeshift camp after tropical depression Grace passed through the area following Saturday's 7.2 magnitude quake, in Les Cayes, Haiti August 17, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo Expand
Earthquake-displaced children sit under a piece of plastic in a field the morning after Tropical Storm Grace swept over the area in Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, three days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn) Expand

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People affected by Saturday's earthquake recover their belongings under the rain of Tropical Depression Grace at a refugee camp in Les Cayes, Haiti, 1. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

People affected by Saturday's earthquake recover their belongings under the rain of Tropical Depression Grace at a refugee camp in Les Cayes, Haiti, 1. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

A woman shelters from the rain under a tarp in a makeshift camp after tropical depression Grace passed through the area following Saturday's 7.2 magnitude quake, in Les Cayes, Haiti August 17, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

A woman shelters from the rain under a tarp in a makeshift camp after tropical depression Grace passed through the area following Saturday's 7.2 magnitude quake, in Les Cayes, Haiti August 17, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

Earthquake-displaced children sit under a piece of plastic in a field the morning after Tropical Storm Grace swept over the area in Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, three days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

Earthquake-displaced children sit under a piece of plastic in a field the morning after Tropical Storm Grace swept over the area in Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, three days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

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People affected by Saturday's earthquake recover their belongings under the rain of Tropical Depression Grace at a refugee camp in Les Cayes, Haiti, 1. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

Mark Stevenson and Evens Sanon

Tropical Storm Grace swept over Haiti with drenching rains only two days after a powerful earthquake battered the impoverished Caribbean nation .

Heavy rain and strong winds overnight whipped at the country’s south-western area, hit hardest by Saturday’s quake, and officials warned rainfall could reach 38cm in some areas before the storm moved on. Port-au-Prince, the capital, also saw heavy rains.

The storm arrived on the same day that the country’s Civil Protection Agency raised the death toll from the earthquake to 1,419 and the number of injured to 6,000, many of whom have had to wait for medical help lying outside in wilting heat.

Grace’s rain and wind raised the threat of mudslides and flash flooding as it slowly passed by south-western Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula before heading toward Jamaica and south-eastern Cuba yesterday.

Forecasters said it could be a hurricane before hitting Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

The quake nearly wrecked some towns in the latest disaster to befall the western hemisphere’s poorest nation.

Haitians were already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, gang violence, worsening poverty and the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. 

“We are in an exceptional situation,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry told reporters on Monday as the storm approached.

A hospital in the badly-damaged town of Les Cayes was so crowded with patients after the earthquake that many had to lie in corridors, patios and verandas.

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The approaching storm had officials scrambling to relocate them as best they could.

“We had planned to put up tents in hospital patios, but we were told that could not be safe,” said Gede Peterson, director of Les Cayes General Hospital.

It is not the first time the hospital has been forced to improvise. The refrigeration in its morgue has not worked for three months.

“We are working now to ensure that the resources we have are going to get to the places that are hardest hit,” said Civil Protection Agency head Jerry Chandler, referring to the towns of Les Cayes and Jeremie and the department of Nippes.

Quake victims continued to stream to Les Cayes’ hospital, waiting on stair steps, in corridors and on an open veranda.