Death toll from tropical storm Olga rises to 25; most in Dominican flooding

[uppityperson]

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNhN8_7p-KE1ZzpfDlregycDetoQ

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic - Authorities in the Dominican Republic are reporting 11 more deaths in floods caused by tropical storm Olga.

The report raises the Caribbean-wide death toll to 25. The toll includes two deaths in northern Haiti and one in Puerto Rico. But most of the deaths occurred in the Dominican Republic's central province of Santiago.

Several people are reported to have drowned after officials, fearing a dam would collapse, ordered the release of water into the Yaque River. Seven towns were inundated as a result.

Octavio Rodriguez, a member of the committee that decided to open the floodgates, says officials knew they would cause damage downriver. But he told The Associated Press that they felt they had no choice.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=878&tstamp=200712

Tropical Storm Olga is gone, destroyed by high wind shear and dry air. The storm, only the fourth December tropical storm on record to hit land, is also the deadliest December tropical cyclone on record. At least 22 people have died due to flooding in its wake. One man was killed on Puerto Rico in a mudslide, two people died on Haiti due to flash floods, and at least 19 people died in the Dominican Republic. The only other December killer storm on record was Tropical Storm Odette, a 65-mph tropical storm that killed eight people in the Dominican Republic on December 7, 2003.

Most of the deaths in the Dominican Republic occurred in its second largest city, Santiago, when water was released from the Taveras dam upstream of the city in order to keep the dam from failing. Questions are being raised about why evacuations orders given several hours before the water release were not heeded, according the local Dominican Today newspaper. The tourist areas of the Dominican Republic were largely unaffected by Olga's rains, which were concentrated in regions of the northern part of the country.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKN13225959._CH_.242020071213

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The death toll from Tropical Storm Olga neared two dozen on Thursday after flash floods killed at least 19 people in the Dominican Republic, where 35,000 people were forced to flee their homes, Dominican officials said.

(clip)

The majority of the Dominican deaths -- at least 17 -- were people drowned when a river burst its banks and flooded parts of Santiago, the Dominican Republic's second-largest city, 110 miles (176 km) north of Santo Domingo, the capital.

The Yaque del Norte River rose rapidly on Wednesday morning after the release of water from the nearby Tavera dam, local officials said....(more)

[Virginia Dare]

1. This is supposed to run into a low pressure system..

and produce a powerful N'oreaster this weekend, is it not?

[malaise]

3. Not this weekend

We have rain associated with this but we're lucky it lost its steam. This is moving West and then will move NE. This won't be near the US Gulf coast before late Friday/Saturday.

[AuntPatsy]

2. God I feel for these people, nature is just not letting its wrath be contained lately...

sometimes I feel like it is showing us who's boss, I just wonder who next will find themselves having to deal with natures fury, hopefully America will slow down its disasters, its obvious our government no longer cares about it's people, how many more will we have to face before every single citizens realizes they are no longer important to this administration regardless that we are reality the boss of those we supposedly elected?