A tropical wave, Invest95L is making its way west, moving along the same track as the Tropical Depression Fred, that affected the island on Wednesday, 11 August 2021. The new disturbance is expected to pass through the Leeward Islands on Saturday, making its way west to the Dominican Republic by this coming Monday, 16 August. Weather experts say it is expected to form into a depression or storm as it gets closer to the bigger islands. The new storm would be named Grace.
Meteorologists are closely monitoring the tropical wave. They indicate it is disorganized now but has the potential for considerable development within the next week as it moves closer to the Caribbean.
The US National Hurricane Center forecasts gradual development of the system that is moving westward across the tropical Atlantic at near 20mph.
The director of the National Weather Office (Onamet), Gloria Ceballos forecasts storm conditions brought by the new system could be experienced as early as next Monday, 16 August 2021. Monday is a holiday in the Dominican Republic.
MikeFisher of DR1 Weather recommends closely watching the storm’s progress.
Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic is recovering from water and wind damages caused by Tropical Depression Fred. The Center for Emergency Operations (COE) director, Juan Manuel Méndez explained on Thursday, 12 August 2021, that Fred left 344 houses partially damaged, 1,705 people affected, and 23 communities cut off from communication. In an early morning call to the radio talk show, El Gobierno de la Mañana, he pointed out that 55 electric circuits were affected, leaving more than 400,000 users without energy. The Itabo generation plants were affected by garbage flowing with the excess waters. Likewise, 60 aqueducts had problems, of which 59 are out of service, totaling half a million people affected. Much of the damage to the aqueducts was caused by the surging of high levels of water in the river aqueduct sources.
News analysts commented how the Justice Department continued working through the storm despite a red alert having been issued for most of the Dominican Republic, including Santo Domingo. Notable was the restart of the Odebrecht case in which the lead accused person, former Odebrecht commercial representative Angel Rondón’s defense presented closing arguments.
On Wednesday, the authorities reported the rescue of the passengers and crew of a catamaran affected by the strong seas. Coast Guard Canopus and Aldebaran rescued a Spanish and French nationals on board the catamaran “Raiatea”. The Mexican crew was rescued when patrolling the coast.
The Ministry of Agriculture reported that Tropical Depression Fred did not cause damages to local farming. On the contrary, many areas benefited from the rains.
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13 August 2021