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Tropical
storm kills 14 in Caribbean |
December 14,
2007: SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AFP): Tropical
Storm Olga, a rare December cyclone, left at least 14 people
dead in the Caribbean as pounding rains triggered major
floods and landslides, authorities said Wednesday.
In the Dominican Republic, at least 11 people were killed in
the northern city of Santiago by the flooding and the
release of water from the Tavera dam, which swept down the
Yaque del Norte river valley, the country's Emergency
Operations Center said.
Some 2,000 people were evacuated from the area as a
precautionary measure, said center director Juan Manuel
Mendez.
In Santiago province, rescuers found people clinging to
trees or perched on their rooftops as floodwaters rose,
cutting off dozens of communities from the rest of the
country, said Governor Jose Izquierdo.
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said he was heading to
Santiago to visit the stricken areas.
Some 34,500 people were evacuated across the Dominican
Republic because of the floods and an estimated 5,000 homes
were affected, many of them completely destroyed, officials
said, as the storm started fizzling out late Wednesday.
In Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the
Dominican Republic, Tropical Storm Olga killed at least two
people, destroyed homes and uprooted trees, authorities
said.
In Puerto Rico, one man was killed Wednesday when his car
was buried under a landslide near San Juan, police said.
The system weakened as it traveled away from the island and
was downgraded to a tropical depression on Wednesday
afternoon, with forecasters saying it could fizzle out
altogether during the night. |
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But the National
Hurricane Center in Miami warned that the remnants of the
system could continue dumping rain in Hispaniola, where the
risk of life-threatening floods and mudslides remained high.
Olga's rampage came almost two weeks after the Atlantic
hurricane season officially ended. It is rare for tropical
storms to form after the November 30 end of the six-month
season.
The Dominican Republic had already been hit hard by Tropical
Storm Noel, which slammed the country in late October,
killing at least 85 people.
Olga was the 15th named storm to form in the Atlantic this
year. Six of the storms became hurricanes, including two
that hit land with rare fury, reaching the topmost intensity
five with maximum sustained winds of more than 249
kilometers (155 miles) per hour.
In August, Hurricane Dean killed at least 29 people in a
rampage through the Caribbean and Mexico.
The following month, Hurricane Felix killed about 150 people
and wrought a trail of devastation along Nicaragua's
impoverished Caribbean coast.
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