President Danilo Medina met on Tuesday, 19 September 2017 with members of the Emergency Operations Commission (COE). Medina cut short his participation in the United Nations General Assembly to head the Hurricane Maria disaster mitigation efforts.
It is expected that the country will begin to feel the effects starting on Wednesday, 20 September, especially along the northeast, according to the director of the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), Gloria Ceballos.
The President received a detailed report regarding the progress of Hurricane Maria and its possible impact on Dominican territory, according to Roberto Rodriguez Marchena, the presidential spokesman. If the hurricane follows the current models, it is expected that Maria will not make landfall in the Dominican Republic, although abundant rainfall is expected and this is what worries local officials, because the ground is saturated from hurricane Irma and rains from a later low pressure trough that went over the island.
Current projections show the center of Maria will possibly be located approximately 100 miles (between 150 and 175 km) to the north of La Altagracia province, and only about 65 miles, more or less, to the north of Samana on Thursday morning, according to meteorologist Martin Mata. Strong winds and heavy rains are expected in Hato Mayor, El Seibo, La Altagracia, Samana, Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Puerto Plata and Montecristi.
Onamet is maintaining a hurricane watch from Saona Island all the way to Puerto Plata on the north coast. Tropical storm warnings are in place from Puerto Plata to Manzanillo Bay in the northwest.
The Center of Emergency Operations (COE) on Tuesday placed a red alert for the provinces of La Altagracia (Punta Cana and Higuey), El Seibo, Hato Mayor, Samaná, Espaillat (Moca), María Trinidad Sánchez (Salcedo), Puerto Plata and La Romana. COE declared yellow alert for the provinces of San Pedro de Macorís, San Cristóbal, Santo Domingo and the National District. Green alert has been declared for the provinces of Elías Piña, Independencia, Bahoruco, Hermanas Mirabal, Pedernales, Dajabón, Santiago Rodríguez, Valverde, Monte Plata, Santiago, La Vega, Duarte (San Francisco de Macorís), Sánchez Ramírez (Cotuí), San José de Ocoa, Monseñor Nouel (Bonao), San Juan de la Maguana, Azua, Barahona and Peravia (Baní).
During a Tuesday, 19 September 2017 press conference, General Juan Manuel Mendez, the COE director, explained that alert levels could well vary over the next hours depending on the path taken by the hurricane and he reiterated that they have already initiated preventive evacuations of persons in vulnerable areas.
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7 Dias
20 September 2017
