Not less than 42 individuals have died in Haiti after heavy downpour caused broad flooding at the weekend, emergency officials say.

Another 11 individuals are as yet missing, and more than 13,000 are displaced after their homes were damaged.

The worst hit city is Léogâne, south-west of the capital Port-au-Prince, where three rivers bursts their banks.

Overall, half of all the departments in the impoverished Caribbean island nation are affected.

Phania Cange's home in Léogâne was swept away in the floods.

She managed to save one of her children but her five-year-old died in the flooding: "I risked losing two (children), but God left the other one hanging in a tree."

Léogâne Mayor Ernson Henry said city residents were "desperate".

"They have lost everything. The waters have ravaged their fields, washed away their livestock," he told the AFP news agency.

There are fears that the number of dead will rise further.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said his government - together with international partners - was "taking urgent measures" to deal with the disaster.

The World Food Programme said that the organisation would start providing hot meals to those displaced.

Local TV has shown pictures of people wading through vast streams of brown water.

The country's infrastructure has been damaged by several devastating earthquakes.

Rescue operations are made harder by Haiti's ongoing problem with criminal gangs, which control many areas.

Sad.