With the sun shining over most of the country this past weekend, with temperatures rising, and summer fast approaching, last week’s very heavy rains in the Northwest and North Coast made lots of news. The Committee for Emergency Operations (COE) issued very strong warnings last Thursday with four provinces under red alerts, 15 provinces under yellow alerts and seven under green alerts. The red alerts were for the provinces of the Northwest Line, namely Valverde, Montecristi, and Santiago Rodriguez, and for the province of Puerto Plata on the North Coast. Much of the rest of the Cibao Valley was under some type of alert.
As reports filtered in, there were houses crushed under failing retention walls, thousands of displaced persons in the Lower Yaque Valley, a bridge on the Yaque River at Castañuelas was seriously threatened, communities were cut off from the rest of the country and, finally, the Ministry of Education suspended classes for Thursday and Friday in the provinces that were affected by these rains.
Towards the long weekend, the alerts were modified, and by Saturday only six provinces were on a yellow alert. There was also some positive news.
The reservoirs behind many of the country’s most important dams were filling up. According to the National Institute for Water Resources (Indrhi), on average, the nation’s reservoirs held 88.15% of capacity, with some of the sites showing above-capacity levels. Moncion, Hatillo, Rincon, Tavera, Jigüey, and Valdesia were all at or above 90% of capacity with Rincon and Hatillo above capacity at 110% and 105%, respectively.
The Ministry of Public Works reported on the falling of a major rock that did not cause injuries nor damages to a vehicle, but impacted traffic on the Samana north-south toll road near Majagual.
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El Caribe
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El Dia
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Presidency
5 May 2026