The Emergency Operations Center (COE) has declared a yellow alert for western provinces and a green alert for the rest of the country, and ordered preventive evacuations due to tropical storm Sandy that is threatening to become a hurricane. Although the path of the storm indicates that it will pass to the west of Cuba, and it was located some 475 kilometers to the south of Jamaica yesterday, Tuesday 23 October, the width of its cloud cover will affect the entire island, especially the southwestern region.
National Meteorological Office (Onamet) director Gloria Ceballos said that Sandy would bring considerable rainfall from yesterday night, Tuesday 23 October until Friday, 26 October, with the aggravating circumstance that it is moving slowly, at a speed of just 6kph. Ceballos estimated that rainfall levels could be as high as 100 millimeters/4 inches. “Another problem that we have is that October is a very rainy month for the Caribbean shoreline, so we have saturated soils and the rainfall levels that we expect are going to create flooding very quickly,” she said.
The provinces under yellow alert are Azua, Barahona, Pedernales, Bahoruco, San Juan, Elias Pina, Independencia, Dajabon, Montecristi, Santiago Rodriguez, San Jose de Ocoa, San Cristobal, Mao and Bani. The rest of the country is subject to a green alert. As part of the measures taken yesterday, the COE ordered all members of the National Police and the Armed Forced to return to their barracks.
For daily weather reports, see the MikeFisher posts at http://www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyond/123903-stormy-season-2012-a.html