With a picture of flooded New Orleans on the front page, the headlines coincidentally tell of a major new dam that will halt flooding on the floodplains of the Yaque del Sur River. The dam site is located between Azua and Barahona and will cost an estimated US$260 million. The government, according to Frank Rodriguez, the head of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI), is looking for the financing. Rodriguez told the Listin Diario reporters that dredging the riverbed would not solve the problem of flooding along the lower parts of the Yaque. Readers may remember the terrible loss of live after hurricane Georges causes the river to overflow and nearly wipe out the town of Tamayo. According to Rodriguez, recent rains have impeded the INDRHI from continuing its work on cleaning up and shoring up the riverbanks with sandbags. A report from the Ministry of Agriculture said that 3,900 ‘tareas,’ about 250 hectares, of land in the area near Barahona were affected by floodwaters from the Yaque. Particularly hard hit were the plantain farms and pastures. The project of the dam at Monte Grande would include several detours for the river before it reaches the Caribbean Sea. Rodriguez said that until the dam is built, his teams can only do provisional work along the river’s banks in an attempt to help local farmers and cattlemen.