Staying in Cabarete, La Cienaga.

it's probably too early to correctly predict the weather but el caribe wrote about 3 more months of rain so assume things will not get much better.

do you know the house you're gonna stay in? higher up or lower? ground level? close to any river/stream? do they have flooding problems already? another issue is that edenorte turns off the power in many flooded areas so there may be long blackouts. flooding can also affect water supply.

if the people you are going to stay with experienced zero issues with recent rains you have probably nothing to worry about. if they are affected already consider a hotel rather than rented apartment. a hotel is more likely to provide uninterrupted power and clean water.

another thing is traveling. i remember you wanted to travel to few places, it may be more difficult now with roads and bridges being destroyed.

Go to Walmart and buy a crystal ball. Your guess is as good as ours. Some are saying more rain than usual over the next couple of months, but the pattern of prolonged heavy rain every day or two will end sometime. At home we tend to look out the window when the weather people proclaim sunshine and lollipops. Here we generally accept showers most afternoons are possible, they start and end quickly. Not very often is there a day of more rain than not, at least until recently.

If it's any consolation, it's a warm rain...

Princesa777 said:

We are supposed to leave to Cabarete in 2 weeks and we're staying with family in La Cienaga (Cabarete). We have a little kid with us, im assuming/hoping in 2 weeks the situation will be better.
But I have no idea about other health risks (if any at all?). Would it be better to cancel, postpone or shorten or vacation (and see if we can still rent an appartement somewhere?

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Hard to predict what things will be like in two weeks, but right now, other than flooding, mosquitos and clean water are a problem. Cases of Zika have been reported. The municipal water is so muddy and full of contaminates it's unusable. People in the barrois like La Cienaga and La Callejon are have to buy drinking water to bathe and clean with.

if your funds are too low for a hotel maybe local posters from cabarete can advice what would be a good area to stay in a cheaper rental property that can provide the basics in case of bad weather. if you plan to rent a car go for something taller, like a jeepeta or a pickup.

Princesa777 said:

We are supposed to leave to Cabarete in 2 weeks and we're staying with family in La Cienaga (Cabarete). We have a little kid with us, im assuming/hoping in 2 weeks the situation will be better.
But I have no idea about other health risks (if any at all?). Would it be better to cancel, postpone or shorten or vacation (and see if we can still rent an appartement somewhere?

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La Cienaga is a "development" of squatters built on public wet lands next to the Cabarete Lagoon. It is an area with the potential for a huge amount of mosquitoes to exist with or without these rains.
It would be very difficult to construct proper septic systems, if there are any for this location. Assume human waste will be floating in this water. The current rains are more than we typically get for this time of year. It is impossible to predict what things will be like two weeks from now. I have seen images of water which seems to be about 2 feet deep in parts of La Cienaga.

3 months of rain in the NC. This will be great for tourism there! Back to weekenders in in PC

Expat13 said:

3 months of rain in the NC. This will be great for tourism there! Back to weekenders in in PC

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It's an island, albeit a moderately large one. I suspect Punta Cana to get some rain this time of the year as well. In fact:

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=PUnta+Cana+weather&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

windeguy said:

It's an island, albeit a moderately large one. I suspect Punta Cana to get some rain this time of the year as well. In fact:

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=PUnta+Cana+weather&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

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Oddly enough, in Santo Domingo we call this the start of dry season as hurricane season ends and days get a little cooler, less rain and humidity, the best time of year. So does the NC and PC have different seasons? I hope they dont have hurricane season followed by rainy season!

There has never been a hurricane that hit the north coast. The rainiest time on the north coast is after hurricane season.

LaCienega

Are you staying in La Cienega on purpose? Have you been here before? If so, fine but if not, I would never stay in LaCienega. Besides being a town of squatters I have several friends there, many who are displaced now because they have anywhere from a couple inches to several feet of water in their homes. If you have a chance to stay somewhere else, I would take it.



[
QUOTE=Princesa777;1742297]We are supposed to leave to Cabarete in 2 weeks and we're staying with family in La Cienaga (Cabarete). We have a little kid with us, im assuming/hoping in 2 weeks the situation will be better.
But I have no idea about other health risks (if any at all?). Would it be better to cancel, postpone or shorten or vacation (and see if we can still rent an appartement somewhere?[/QUOTE]

If I understand your initial question you are not asking about the chance of rain but rather general living conditions and risks associated folllowing the devastating floods. *
Water = mosquitoes = increased risk of Malaria, chikungunya, Zika, Dengue and likely a host of other things.
Contaminated water = Cholera, ecoli, shigellosis, Leptospirosis
People hit with hard times=increased crime
Bridges and roads out = more challenging transportation.*
Having an alternate plan than to stay with family maybe a good thing. Family member may fall ill, then that starts another circle of issues. *
Folks are resilient but ya never know.

I went to La Cienega once, it was the worst barrio I ever saw in the RD, if you look anything like a tourist be very careful! *People in Cabarete and Sosua would say it's where the ladrones lived, along with Charamicos maybe. *

There is always an elevated chance of mosquito born diseases in a location like that. Those people squat on a wet land adjacent to the Cabarete lagoon and there is a high population density. It is considered to be the "home of the ladrones" by many who live in Cabarete.
So with those things in mind, would you stay there?

This was posted on Facebook recently:

ISLA academy staff went today to help the people of La Cienaga, Cabarete. The village has been under heavy flooding for weeks and therefore even diseases have now started to spread in the community. Our aim was to prevent such spread of viruses/bacteria. We aided community with rubber boots, mosquito nets, food and clothing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/793727524006472/

Princesa777 said:

Yes, that's what I was asking about . Nobody can predict the weather, but I hado no idea aboutique other risks and how long there would be an increased risk to all the things you mentioned. Still present 2 weeks after flooding? 6 weeks? Months?
We would like to stay at least part of the vacation with family, but it has to be safe especially for our 3-yr old.

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No ladrone is going to rob your 3 year old. It' the adults that have to be careful. Targets of opportunity and all that. You are a foreigner in a 3rd world country, in a poor neighborhood no less. Just walking to the colmado for diapers could be problematic. I can understand the desire to stay with family. However, the family doesn't live in a particularly good area. It would be a risk at the best of times. How much of a risk, I can't say, but a risk nonetheless. It may help if the locals learn you are staying with family in the area and that family is somewhat respected, but that only goes so far. If it was me, I'd visit with the family in La Cienaga during the day and excuse myself shortly after dinner and head "home" to a "less risky" area for the remainder of the night.

As for the young child, lots of diseases to catch here. Mosquitoes don't care about age. Kids put stuff in their mouths and 3 year olds don't know to wash their hands every 10 minutes. Your family should see a travel medicine doctor and get all the shots you can at least six weeks before you arrive. Bring a mosquito net for the child at least.

The reality is that you are not coming to Shangri-la and no amount of wishful thinking will change that. The best you can do is reduce your exposure to the risks in this country and hope for the best.