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According to Francisco Holguin, from the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), Hurricane Maria will be much more dangerous for the country than Irma, even though Irma was a category 5 and Maria is a category 4 at the time of making the statement. It would later decline to a category 3 as it passed Hispaniola Island. As the storm moves north to the Atlantic Ocean, its rain and wind bands are expected to continue to affect the country on Thursday, 21 September 2017.<\/p>\n
Holguin had alerted that Maria will be passing around 150 kilometers from Samana, whereas the eye from Maria will be around 100 kilometers from the east coast and 70 from the north east that meant wind, waves and rain would be worse than during Irma.<\/p>\n
He said that Maria was travelling much slower at 17 kilometers an hour and Irma was much faster at 28 kph, so Maria would be in the country for longer. In addition the ground is already saturated so he expects major flooding especially in the northwest, Dajabon, Montecristi and Santiago Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
He said that some of the dams would have their floodgates opened and the Yaque del Norte River is already almost full. He says it is possible that extensive areas of farmland will be flooded in the northwest and there may be serious crop damage.<\/p>\n
In its 6pm bulletin on Wednesday, 20 September 2017, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) had placed 14 provinces on red alert. These are: La Altagracia (Punta Cana and Higuey), El Seibo, Hato Mayor, Samana, Espaillat, Maria Trinidad S\u00e1nchez, Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, La Romana, Montecristi, Duarte (San Francisco de Macor\u00eds), Monte Plata, San Crist\u00f3bal and the National District. Provinces under yellow alert are: La Vega, San Pedro de Macoris, S\u00e1nchez Ram\u00edrez (Cotu\u00ed), San Jos\u00e9 de Ocoa, Monse\u00f1or Nouel (Bonao), San Juan de la Maguana, Santiago Rodr\u00edguez, Valverde, Santiago, Azua, Dajab\u00f3n, Hermanas Mirabal (Salcedo). Provinces under green alert are: El\u00edas Pi\u00f1a, Independencia, Bahoruco, Pedernales, Barahona, and Peravia (Ban\u00ed).<\/p>\n
Read more in Spanish: 21 September 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to Francisco Holguin, from the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), Hurricane Maria will be much more dangerous for the country than Irma, even though Irma was a category 5 and Maria is a category 4 at the time of making the statement. It would later decline to a category 3 as it passed Hispaniola Island. … <\/p>\n
\nDiario Libre<\/a>
\nCOE<\/a><\/p>\n