US and Canadian troops rushed medical supplies, drinking water and chlorine tablets today to flood-battered towns where bodies were floating near the tops of palm trees and thousands of marooned survivors were in desperate need of aid.

AMERICAN and Canadian troops yesterday rushed to a town left completely submerged by flooding and where health officials feared 1,000 people could be dead in that town alone.

With dark clouds moving in and more rain predicted, US and Canadian troops raced against time today to reach a small town where up to 1,000 people were feared dead from floods that wiped out villages across Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Haitians turned to US-led troops and international agencies for help as the death toll climbed to about 900 following floods that ravaged Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Hundreds more were missing and presumed dead.