Floods in Islabon

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tee

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Sep 14, 2007
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For those of you living on the north coast please think twice about sending aid to Santiago when there are flooded areas on your doorstep. The village of Islabon, between Cabarete and Sabaneta is under one meter of water. Santiago will receive a lot of helping from the capitol, neighboring cities and of course a few presidential candidates looking for a few extra votes. Also remember that Santiago is the commercial hub of the Dominican Republic, and so there are plenty of resources there.
But Islabon? What do they have? They will not receive the much needed help. Just about the only help they will receive is from their families...Sure, the red cross may appear, the odd sympathetic foreigner driving past may offer a little help, but they sure need more than that. Christmas is on the way and these people have lost just about everything that they previously had, and that was not much.
If you have any old clothes please put them in a bag and take them to this much needed community. Any unused toys would be a great help too...anything you can think of including food parcels.
Homes are flooded right up to the ceilings, cars are under water, people are wading out to the road in water up to their chins, cows in fields are standing on top of each other on whatever high ground they can find, animals are being cooked by the side of the highway to feed people. There are drowned pigs and cows lying on the side of the road and the surviving cows trying to find shelter on patios and terracse of homes. The flood water is on both sides of the road and just everywhere as far as you can see.
I will try and add some photos...once I can work out how to post them!!
Please, do your bit to make a difference.
 
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tee

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Ok, lets try again...sorry folks. My friend was almost brought to tears when she took these photos....

(Tee, your photos are just a few posts further along .. AnnaC resized them and reposted them. Moderator)
 
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Ladybird

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Thank you Tee, now youve taught me I'll download more photos later, Im off to the wholesalers in Sosua to buy rice, milk, beans, oil and then divide it into bags then off to the back barrios in this area if I can get through, I'll take more photos then to post. PLEASE IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO HELP even the smallest call me on 809 972 2340 and you can come with us to the wholesalers and buy a sack of rice etc. and water. These areas have not recovered from Noel so they will be in terrible state
 
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Ladybird

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I'll buy what I can but if everyone going to bars, restaurants of even in hotels ,could ask them to start collections this would be a great help, there are many tourists here now and Im sure they would be only too glad to help but dont know how. We need a truck for bottled gas and water - anyone?
 
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marliejaneca

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Oct 7, 2003
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tee said:
For those of you living on the north coast please think twice about sending aid to Santiago when there are flooded areas on your doorstep. The village of Islabon, between Cabarete and Sabaneta is under one meter of water. Santiago will receive a lot of helping from the capitol, neighboring cities and of course a few presidential candidates looking for a few extra votes. Also remember that Santiago is the commercial hub of the Dominican Republic, and so there are plenty of resources there.
But Islabon? What do they have? They will not receive the much needed help. Just about the only help they will receive is from their families...Sure, the red cross may appear, the odd sympathetic foreigner driving past may offer a little help, but they sure need more than that. Christmas is on the way and these people have lost just about everything that they previously had, and that was not much.
If you have any old clothes please put them in a bag and take them to this much needed community. Any unused toys would be a great help too...anything you can think of including food parcels.
Homes are flooded right up to the ceilings, cars are under water, people are wading out to the road in water up to their chins, cows in fields are standing on top of each other on whatever high ground they can find, animals are being cooked by the side of the highway to feed people. There are drowned pigs and cows lying on the side of the road and the surviving cows trying to find shelter on patios and terracse of homes. The flood water is on both sides of the road and just everywhere as far as you can see.
I will try and add some photos...once I can work out how to post them!!
Please, do your bit to make a difference.
Click to expand...

Now tee - I do not want you to take this the wrong way, PLEASE!

The pics you posted obviously do not do justice to the situation that you describe.

I did not see the cows standing on top of each other but standing in a field. I did not see house flooded right up to their ceilings but certainly flooded a bit in their patios. I did not see cars and motos under water or people wading up to their chins.

What I did see that made me cry was the utter devestation in Santiago on other threads. I am not trying to minimalize the destruction that you can see with your own eyes- but your pics pale in comparison to what has been reported from Santiago. This is why people have been jumping on the bandwagon to help those people there.

In all fairness - you should not discourage anyone from helping anyone out at this tragic time - perhaps if you worded your plea a little differently - such as suggesting to split up what people are donating between the two areas, this may be a little more - for lack of a better word - appealing to ones senses.

I am sorry for what is happening in your area and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.

Marlie
 
Hlywud

Hlywud

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Jan 1, 2002
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8g7r78h.jpg


someone should teach or learn how to resize pictures.

Build a house in a gulley below road level, expect to be flooded.
 
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tee

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Marlie,
Do not worry...I did not take it the wrong the wrong way.
I know the situation in Santiago is terrible, but I know that most of the aid will be heading in to that area. The point of my post is to make the residents of the Cabarete/Sosua area realise that this is also happening on THEIR doorstep. You probably did not study the photos very well as you will see that in a couple of the photos that the water is up to the middle of their front doors. There are no photos of the cars under water as they were too far away to take good enough photos, the same goes for the houses that were flooded almost at the roof.
 
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Ladybird

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We got back home late after all the delays on the road in Cabarete, but we managed to distribute emergency bags to over 40 families. I bought rice, oil, beans, sugar, milk, toilet rolls, washing powder, matches etc but the heart breaking thing was trying to decide who to give the last few bags to, it just wasnt nearly enough and this food will last only a couple of days. I paid for this aid but I could do with help to buy more. Please pm me if you can help.
 
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snowbird44

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Oct 29, 2004
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Ladybird, I will contact you once we are settled in. We are arriving Tuesday afternoon. You seem to know where the people need help. I will help.
 
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Ladybird

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Thank you

Thanks, we certainly need help, Ive just got back from
stocking up again, but I cant afford to buy any more, and tomorrow will restart bagging and distributing, but there are so many areas we still havent been into. It was on local TV tonight that no help was forthcoming to the Islabon/Sabaneta area from anywhere. Press attention is naturally on the terrible events in Santiago and after Noel it was centred on Santo Domingo, so this area in the North tends to get overlooked and it tends to flood even in heavy rains. Even when I was buying the supplies tonight some people also told me theres areas under water in Sosua could we help the people there, but I thought the sindico was supposed to be aiding the Sosua families??

Please all you folks, pass up on that last beer and donate the money instead, you can drop it into Karen (Sosua Kids Charity) at Dr. Bobs vet clinic, just say its for the flood victims
 
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ajewellmom

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Oct 31, 2007
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Wow! I just returned from my vacation tonight and thought I would now see on this forum what truly happened while we were there. I was at BP San Juan, and although we had a lot of rain (all week) and a good amount of wind with Olga, I had no idea how bad it was. I had asked a few staff members at reception and whatnot, and they all just said it was a small storm.

Just goes to show you how sheltered you are at a resort! So kind of you to all be giving what you can.

BTW, I didn't notice any major flooding along the highway between Rio San Juan and the airport, so perhaps it has dried up some with yesterday's sun???
 
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Ladybird

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ajewellmom said:
Wow! I just returned from my vacation tonight and thought I would now see on this forum what truly happened while we were there. I was at BP San Juan, and although we had a lot of rain (all week) and a good amount of wind with Olga, I had no idea how bad it was. I had asked a few staff members at reception and whatnot, and they all just said it was a small storm.

Just goes to show you how sheltered you are at a resort! So kind of you to all be giving what you can.

BTW, I didn't notice any major flooding along the highway between Rio San Juan and the airport, so perhaps it has dried up some with yesterday's sun???
Click to expand...

The barrios are not on any highway, I doubt tourists at AI even know they exist, the water hadnt even dried up in these areas after Noel when Olga hit. Hope you enjoyed your vacation.
 
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Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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I don't dispute that there were floods in Islabon. I lived there, so I know every house on every one of the pictures that were posted. The photos were all taken directly from the highway. One was taken of a house that is just down from where we lived. This house flooded regularly and the inhabitants were used to it. I am not saying that this is normal or good. The highway was built on a higher level than the surrounding houses. The water runs off and floods all the houses and the paddocks behind them. This happens regularly. We were housebound once for a period of 3 days as the little rio overflowed its banks. It is a regular occurance.

I don't dispute that people are in need. I'm simply wondering if this is the best use of people's money. These areas flood regularly. With even a little rain, these areas flood. So, aid to these areas is a black hole. If people do not move, they will need help again at least twice in the next rainy season.

I don't pretend to have answers for people who built their houses right next to the highway, or for those whose houses ended up right next to the road. There is about a 3 to 6 foot difference between the road bed and the houses next to it.

There is a difference however between the tragedy in Santiago and the flooded areas in Islabon and environs. In Santiago, the area that was most affected, had not flooded for 30 years. In Islabon, the areas shown in these pictures flood at least twice a year.

It is necessary to focus the contribution that one gives to where it can make a difference.
 
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CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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Official boundaries, I'm not sure.
I generally think of Islabon starting about 3-4km east of Cabarete & extending to the area where the highway crosses the Yasica River.

Just Found a map...
rana_map.jpg
 
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