Weak institutions and lack of compliance with local laws has given way to overconstruction and planting of cement where before there were green areas that facilitated drainage. This is a pattern nationwide.
Talk shows are again looking into the drainage issue after the weeklong rains of Melissa flooded the country. News of the devastation in Jamaica is a reminder that the Dominican Republic is in the track of hurricanes, too. The Abinader administration chose to practically shut down the country for four days as a preventive measure causing billions in economic losses.
Esta Noche con Mariasela hosted a panel on Tuesday, 28 October 2025 that clearly stated that the National District should not flood because it is a city built on ground terraces facing the Caribbean Sea. Likewise, it is a city surrounded by rivers and gullies, enabling natural drainage. The problem has been concrete high rises and commercial entities have been erected in every available space, impeding the natural drainage.
Speaking on the show, architect Hamlet Otañez, former director of the Santiago water corporation, urged small solutions be installed to put the drainage back into the cities in a sustainable green way. He stressed it is not necessary to await a mega government project such as would be the installation of new drainage system.
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DR1 News
29 October 2025