The heavy rains that have been falling since Saturday, 1 November 2014 have cut off several communities, flooded homes, hospitals and stores, and damaged crops. The flooding of the Yaque del Norte and Los Almacigos rivers cut off the communities of Las Matas de Santa Cruz, Ranchadero, Castanuelas, Loma de Castanuela, Palo Verde, El Ahogado, Guayubin, Batey Higuero, Hualterio, Villa Los Almacigos, El Pino, Partido and Los Perez de Gurabo, in the provinces of Montecristi, Santiago Rodriguez, Dajabon and Santiago.
The rains caused a mudslide on the Navarrete n Altamira road, next to the tunnel, in La Canela de Santiago and the tourist road from Santiago to Puerto Plata.
There are also reports of flooding in several areas of Santiago including Hoya del Caimito, 27 de Febrero, Hato del Yaque, San Antonio and Rinconada.
The Emergency Operations Center (COE) reports that 259 homes in the Cibao region have been affected by the rain, with 77 people evacuated. However, people on the ground are saying that more than 1,000 homes are flooded.
The Villa Vasquez and Montellano hospitals are flooded, as well as the parking lot at the Jose Maria Cabral and Baez regional hospital in Santiago.
The communities of Sabaneta de Yasica and Luperon in Puerto Plata province are now flooded and the COE says it will be increasing the alert level to red for several provinces across the country. COE director Juan Manuel Mendez says that President Danilo Medina instructed him to go to Sabaneta de Yasica and Luperon to provide all the help that is needed there. Official shelters for residents who have been displaced from their homes by floods and mudslides have been opened in Montecristi.
However, there is still more rain to come. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) a large area of disturbed weather extending northward from the northeastern Caribbean Sea has a 20% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours. They say that a surface low-pressure system could form in this area later today or tomorrow, and it could briefly acquire subtropical characteristics while moving northwestward.
Heavy rainfall with a chance of floods is likely to continue across parts of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic through Wednesday night, 5 November 2014 regardless of the formation of the low-pressure system, says the NHC.
http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2014/11/05/us-nhc-says-low-chance-of-cyclone-over-northeastern-caribbean-sea-n1914506
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/11/4/344023/Lluvias-incomunican-pueblos-del-Cibao-e-inundan-hospitales
http://www.noticiassin.com/2014/11/varias-comunidades-inundadas-en-puerto-plata-anuncia-el-coe/