Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna caused major flooding in the town of Gonaives, Haiti. Matthew Marek, head of programs for the American Red Cross in Haiti, took this photo while on an aerial assessment trip.

Gonaives, Haiti ? Floodwaters frustrated efforts by Argentine peacekeepers to distribute food at orphanages marooned by Tropical Storm Hanna on Thursday. They hunkered down in their base as desperate people begged for food and water outside the gates.

A Haitian politician struggling to gauge the extent of the damage in Haiti’s fourth-largest city helicoptered into the U.N. compound and said the situation is critical.

Half the homes in the low-lying city of 160,000 remain flooded in Hanna’s wake, estimated Lt. Sergio Hoj, spokesman for the Argentine battalion.

Some 250,000 people are affected in the Gonaives region, including 70,000 in 150 shelters across the city, according to an international official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

The official death toll rose to 61 on Thursday as Hanna finally moved north with near-hurricane winds on a path toward the southeastern U.S. coast. But there was no way of knowing how many people might be dead in the chaos, or how many had been driven from their homes.

And forecasters warned that Hurricane Ike could hit the Western hemisphere’s poorest country next week.

Businesses were closed – both because of flooding and for fear of looting.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince declared a disaster situation, freeing $100,000 in emergency aid, spokeswoman Mari Tolliver said.