Jeanne Storm Damages Report

[Dolores1]

Thank you for your update on Secrets...in your opinion do you think things will be cleaned up by Oct 9th? That is when we will be arriving.

My educated guess would be it will depend on the weather once the remnants of Jeanne move on, would say by Monday. Hurricane season in the DR practically ends with September -- all hurricanes have historically hit in September. Once the sun is back and it has stopped raining, the waters will be drained and clean up operations can accelerate.

But again, only the hotel can give you an answer. In worse case, they will relocate you to another Secrets.

 

[Ken]

My educated guess would be it will depend on the weather once the remnants of Jeanne move on, would say by Monday. Hurricane season in the DR practically ends with September -- all hurricanes have historically hit in September.

Yes, and historically 3 hurricanes have never hit Florida within such a short period, and historically no tropical storm/hurricane has ever passed over the entire north coast from Samana to Monti Cristi.

 

[Dolores1]

Yes, and historically 3 hurricanes have never hit Florida within such a short period, and historically no tropical storm/hurricane has ever passed over the entire north coast from Samana to Monti Cristi.

I don't know about Florida (Bahamas is coming close to tie Florida's bad luck), but as I posted earlier, Hurricane Eloise (Cat. 1) in 1975 kept almost exactly the same route as Jeanne, entering by Samana and crossing over the entire north coast to Monte Cristi. Its course was just a few kilometers more to the south than Jeanne.

Of course there could be hurricanes in October-November, but the probability is much lesser.

This could have been the year when most Atlantic destinations have been affected by bad storms. No doubt, 2004 has been a surprise year regarding hurricanes.

 

[gazraa]

just heard from my girlfriend who is in the Melia Caribe Tropical, Bavaro. Her holiday rep (first choice) has not been seen at the hotel for the last 4 days apparently so they don't know what is going on.

All the other guests from other tour operators have been kept up to date and it sounds like they are being told that they will be moved even though the hotel didn't sustain any major damage, would that be because of access (or lack of) to the resort?

She said helicopters are flying around all the time. She also said that there are only 2 hotels still standing which I think is a bit over the top, but you can imagine what information starts to circulate when no one knows what is going on.

She sounded totally pee'd off by the whole thing.

She also said they have been told another hurricane is on it's way, I'm assuming she's talking about Karl who appears (according to the latest track) to be heading north and will not go anywhere near the islands, so I passed that info on to her which hopefully made her feel a bit better if that's possible.

She's due to fly back here to the UK wednesday evening. I can't wait for her to get home where although the weather is crap, it's safe.

 

[Dolores1]

Residencial Casa Linda in Sosua, Puerto Plata

Residencial Casa Linda remains open, and running. Guests did not have to be relocated. No structural damages on any of the houses.

Emergency power generator has been providing electricity over the past 72 hours, water is available, cable TV service is unavailable at this moment with no word yet on the situation.

Residencial Casa Linda sustained mostly landscaping damages. Great amount of large trees and branches caused no casualties nor mayor damages. Trees blocked access streets and roads within the community.

Will send a little further information with pictures later today.

Best regards

Timo Pallaks
Gerente general
Residencial Casa Linda
Tel.(809)571 1190
Fax: (809)571 1411
Email: r.casalinda@verizon.net.do
Web: www.casalindaonline.com

http://dr1.com/directories/rental/casalinda.shtml

 

[DunHill]

Tomorrow we are going on a large trip to fix some satellite internet systems that went down during the last hours of the storm
Our route will be as follow:

Juan Dolio - Puerto Plata - Cabarete - Samana - Juan Dolio

I take my digital camera with me, and will place the results here

Arjan

 

[Hlywud]

Trip

You sure arent going to be fixing much with the time it takes to make that trip. Especially with trees and poles down, washouts along the way.

 

[DunHill]

We shall see, communications must be restored and we are prepaired for the worst.
But it will be a heavy trip, thats for sure.

 

[Dolores1]

We shall see, communications must be restored and we are prepaired for the worst.
But it will be a heavy trip, thats for sure.

Interesting to see your photos, but I would think you would not have major problems. Clean up is proceeding quickly in Puerto Plata and the areas that are most difficult to access from the west, namely La Romana and Higuey are not on your list. Their problems are flooding from the rivers. For that a days of sunshine are needed for the waters to return to their normal levels.

UPDATE! Access to La Romana has been cleared through Soco and Cumayasa River. Those heading for La Romana are fine with clean up probably just taking another week and everything back to normal in the tourist areas. Some stores already ready for opening in the Marina de Chavon, one of the most flooded areas of La Romana.

 

[dawnwil]

Thank-you all for excellent reports, before & after.

This was my first tropical storm; I know much more about what to expect in future.

What really chills my blood is knowing that Hurricane Ivan packed winds 100 mph stronger. I can't begin to imagine the ferocity.

But in looking at the damage close to home around Sosua, it can never be said that 'it's only a tropical storm'. And we certainly got the least of it, even in comparison to Cabarete, by Chris's report. I will do my part in future to emphasize the destructive potential, now that I've seen it with my own eyes.

What is awesome and terrifying is that it's all fluke, exactly where the wind lands its fiercest blows. I guess tornados are even worse for pinpoint destruction. I wonder if there were mini tornados mixed up with this storm while it was blowing?

I know very little about it, but now I understand why those who've been here a while and the sailors among us are so well informed as to the nature of storms.

It is also disheartening to know that the destruction continues well after the wind dies, by way of floods and potentially much greater loss of life.

 

[marisky]

Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in La Romana???

Does anyone know if the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in La Romana suffered any damage? My husband and I are scheduled to stay there in less than two weeks and I'm very concerned. My travel agent doesn't know anything yet but I've read that some bridges were damaged and that might make it difficult to reach La Romana. We'll flying into Punta Cana and making the drive to La Romana, so any info about road conditions and the hotel would be much appreciated. We have a non-cancelable trip so I'm pretty worried. :nervous: Thanks bunches!!!

Marisky

 

[Chris]

But in looking at the damage close to home around Sosua, it can never be said that 'it's only a tropical storm'.

And that is exactly what I will take away from this experience - this sentence has been going over and over in my mind for the past two days. It is not "only a tropical storm". "Only a tropical storm" does not take away houses, flood housing developments and create the destruction that I've seen travelling through Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete. sjh down in Nagua, does not have a roof left on any of his farm structures. This was a serious storm, and I will remember how it was downgraded to a tropical storm, when the winds were blowing 4 miles less than hurricane strength, and people felt relieved. Calling it a hurricane seems so much more serious than 'just a tropical storm'. Ken, SaltyDawg and folks experienced in these storms can tell you that a tropical storm can do as much and more damage than a storm called a hurricane.

In my opinion (OK .. humble opinion) everyone who lives here, or in hurricane areas, should get educated about storms, how they work, how to read the weather charts, understand wind strengths in the different quadrants and other storm indicators, what their potentional is for destruction and what the best way is to deal with them.

I was watching Dawnwil's posts throughout the night when people were waiting for the very slow moving and late storm to hit.... and I was reminded so clearly about 16 years ago in Florida, when I sat glued to the television waiting for my "first" hurricane. That experience, and many experiences since sailing, and with storms and hurricanes since, made me study the stuff, up to the point that I could understand it clearly... This season however has been too active even for me.... jeez, give us a break already!

And yes there are usually lots of tornadoes around a hurricane.

But the good news for today, is according to Noaa - tropical storm formation is not expected through Sunday :nervous: So, in this very active hurricane season, we have a break to clean up... :classic:

 

[Linda Stapleton]

Shadley,

I'm really sorry to hear about all your damage but good on you for helping everyone with the cleanup. What goes around comes around, so buena suerte for the future. I hope you get back to normal asap.

Linda.

 

[Ken]

Got a brief call from Kim Beddall today repeating that Samana really got beat up by Jeanne. Power and telephone service out, only Orange cell phones working. But with no power, they have to keep their calls very short because can't recharge the batteries.

5 of the 10 boats sunk in the harbor belong to Miguel Bezi of Transporte Maritimo, the company that runs most of the big boats used for whale watching, trips to Cayo Levantado, and to carry passengers across the bay to Sabana de la Mar.

 

[jorge tavares]

Breezes Punta Cana Sept26th

Is anyone else here headed to Breezes Punta Cana anytime soon? Just wondering what you have heard from your Agency/Tour Operator?
I am getting conflicting answers.
Superclubs.com states they will accept arrivals after Sept20th, one of their members states that date is Oct3rd instead, my Agency has no updates, and the Tour Operator apparently is not open Sat and Sundays.

 

[chuckuindy]

From what I hear

Does anyone know if the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in La Romana suffered any damage? My husband and I are scheduled to stay there in less than two weeks and I'm very concerned. My travel agent doesn't know anything yet but I've read that some bridges were damaged and that might make it difficult to reach La Romana. We'll flying into Punta Cana and making the drive to La Romana, so any info about road conditions and the hotel would be much appreciated. We have a non-cancelable trip so I'm pretty worried. :nervous: Thanks bunches!!!

Marisky

From what I hear at this point you will have no trouble geting from PC to
Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus. From there to La Romana may be a problem.
Charlie

 

[Jasper]

video from rueters "jeanne ravages dominican"

http://www.reuters.com/newsChannel.jhtml;jsessionid=A21AK2ESBJDRSCRBAEOCFFA?type=worldNews

 

[MommC]

Dunhill....while in Juan Dolio........

Tomorrow we are going on a large trip to fix some satellite internet systems that went down during the last hours of the storm
Our route will be as follow:

Juan Dolio - Puerto Plata - Cabarete - Samana - Juan Dolio

I take my digital camera with me, and will place the results here

Arjan

A photo of Il Cappuccino would be appreciated as would a photo of Condominio Las Gaviotas (next to Naito Market) at the crossroad to Los Conucos. If you'd like to PM me I'll give you an email address they could be sent to so you needn't post them on the board (bandwidth!). I assume one of the satellite installations you're heading to repair is the one in Oasis Plaza so you'll be right next door to these two locations!

Thanks muchly......muchas gracias!

 

[Ladybird]

1:00 am in Sosua el Batey,

winds picked up a little in last 20 minutes, but at the moment, no rain.

Time for another nap.

Ken et al, thanks so much for reports-- have been checking in here all day.

Hope you enjoyed your nap after your mocked my posting on the damage the rains did before IT hit.

 

[Ladybird]

????????????????? Huh ???????????

Instead of replying sarcastically, why didnt you get off your backside and go and help., as I and others did, before IT hit.