PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters):

Torrential rains triggered flooding and mudslides that killed three people in Haiti's capital, officials said yesterday, raising fears of more destruction during the coming hurricane season.

"Three people were killed and 11 injured and several houses have been destroyed," Dieufort Deslorge, a spokesman for the civil protection office, told Reuters.

Hardest hit were the poor Carrefour-Feuille, Jacquet and Morne Lazarre neighbourhoods. Deslorge urged residents living in flimsy huts on riverbeds and hillsides to take precautions.

"Those killed and injured were living in areas at risk," he said.

Torrential rains often turn deadly in impoverished and mountainous Haiti, especially in sprawling shantytowns.