At least a dozen houses have fallen into the ravine that follows the Luperon Touristic Highway between Santiago and Puerto Plata. Several more structures are also damaged and threatened by more landslides, with hundreds at risk for possible disaster. The area known as La Cumbre, the highest point along the highway that marks the division between the provinces of Santiago and Puerto Plata provinces, is reporting more than 200 houses damaged by landslides, and hundreds of small crops affected. Specialists are warning that more rains could provoke even more problems due to the increased amount of water in the local aquifers and the geological condition of the mountains. In an extensive report, El Caribe says that a study is underway to devise a new route for the highway that is one of the nation’s oldest. Coincidentally, just yesterday the regional office of CODIA, the engineering association, asked for a new route to be built across the mountains, one that would be further removed from the geological fault lines. Geologist Luis Pena warned that the area around Los Quemados was unstable, and more rains would certainly cause more landslides, which opinion is shared by renowned expert Orlando Franco who noted that the current roadway was in a process of “gravitation,” similar to what happened in 1988 when a huge chunk of the mountain slid off and killed eight people. Between Saturday and Monday, 15 houses in that area were swallowed by the ravine.