Hurricane Bertha hit some of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, but missed Hispaniola, although some torrential rains and heavy winds were felt in the country. Bertha, the first major tropical storm in 1996, turned towards the north, just missing the D.R. and heading towards Florida and the other eastern border states of the United States.
Although warnings were issued by the Civil Defense Department and the National Office of Meteorology to residents of the north and east coasts of the country, no significant damage was reported in either region.
On the night of Monday, 8 July, there were heavy winds in Santo Domingo and other parts of the D.R., while the next day there was heavy rainfall and strong winds in much of the country. Those conditions led to long power cuts that the Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE) attributed to damage done to their distribution network. Some sectors of the capital reported power cuts of more than 48 hours during the days of 8 and 9 July, and the Listin Diario claimed that more than 30% of the power lines in the capital were out of service due to the rain and wind.
Despite the long power cuts, the CDE’s public relations department continued to claim that electricity production was exceeding the national daily demand by more than 100,000 kilowatts.