Tropical storm kills two in Dominican Republic
Tropical Storm Odette crept over the Dominican Republic and out to the open Atlantic today after unleashing torrential rains that prompted thousands to flee their homes and left at least two dead.
A 58-year-old woman, Ondina Guzman, was locked inside her home and drowned early today in the rising floodwaters, said Vice Adm. Radhames Lora Salcedo, chief of the National Emergency Commission.
He said the woman’s son reportedly left her with a lock on the door and went out for drinks in San Cristobal, some 15 miles west of Santo Domingo.
Police also said a 41-year-old Dominican, Jose Manuel Disla, was riding a motorcycle on the outskirts of Santo Domingo when he fell into a swollen creek last night. Searchers later found his body.
The storm dumped up to 7 inches of rain in southern areas, said Pedro Garcia Marion, an official in the Dominican weather office.
Odette, the first named storm on record to form the Caribbean in December, was initially forecast to dump up to 15 inches of rain on parts of the Dominican Republic and neighbouring Haiti.
Dominican officials helped people flee homes on the banks of swelling rivers and soldiers ordered reluctant residents to evacuate dangerous areas before Odette made landfall on the south coast Saturday night.
The floodgates of three nearly filled northern dams were opened to prevent floods.
More than 10,000 people were evacuated from low-lying south-western areas, said Julian Pena, governor of Barahona province.
As Odette swept out over the Atlantic today, it was expected to merge with a cold front and become an extratropical system.
It was the second time in less than a month that heavy rains have forced Dominicans from their homes.
Three weeks ago, rainstorms soaked the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, overflowing rivers banks and creating landslides and flash floods that killed seven people and forced thousands to leave.
More than 2,000 Dominicans were evacuated in those storms, and some remained homeless.
Yesterday, 11 people suffered minor injuries when a bus slid on a slick road and crashed, officials said.
As Odette returned to sea, storm warnings for Haiti and much of the Dominican Republic were discontinued, as were storm watches for the south-eastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Odette’s winds had slowed to 45mph from 65mph a day earlier, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
The storm’s centre was about 145 miles south-east of Grand Turk island in the Turks and Caicos. Tropical storm force winds extended outward 175 miles.
Odette was moving north-east at 20mph, speeding up as it left the mountainous island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti.
Forecasters warned that up to 2 inches of rain still was expected there, threatening deadly floods and mudslides.
Heavy rains have proved particularly deadly on the island, where many poor people live in shacks on riverbanks or in ravines prone to flooding.
Odette formed on Thursday, four days after the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season.
