The nearly four weeks of continuous rains were still front- page news over the weekend and the beginning of this week. Each day new communities report buildings, both public and private, damaged and abandoned because of safety fears. In Santiago, the Listin Diario reports that a small quake and more rain damaged another fifty houses. Houses along the Pontezuela Arroyo and other small creeks were affected by rising waters eating away at the banks of the streams. Especially hard hit was the Embrujo II section of Santiago. The main street that connects the neighborhood with the Duarte Highway has been cut by the floodwaters, and Civil Defense workers are reporting more problems in the Southeast of Santiago in the areas of Hato Mayor and Villas Olimpicas.
In Los Rincones and Villa Trina, to the north of the town of Moca, a school, church and police barracks had to be abandoned along with about fifty homes. Pig farms were also seriously affected by the moving terrain. Rural areas of the northern mountain range were seriously damaged. Places like Rancho Los Platanos, Los Rincones, La Yautia, Corte Nuevo, Palma Herrada all lost important buildings such as churches and schools. Even greater damage was caused in La Vigia, La Cumbre, La Caoba and Puesto Grande. In the Jamao area, Jose Ramon Diaz, the owner of a ten-acre plantain farm said that his crop had been buried by mudslides. The Villa Trina area is also known for its avocado crop, whichhas suffered 40% damage. Although the seismological laboratories at the Autonomous University in Santo Domingo had not logged any earthquakes in the area, the lab’s director Juan Payero told Listin reporters that the rains could have caused micro-seismic events that would not necessarily register in the laboratory.
Fortunately, the sun came out on Sunday and Monday saw a bright and sunny dawn.