Weather and chaos

[NewsWhore]

Over the weekend the newspapers talked about a weak tropical wave that would bring rains to much of the Dominican Republic. A Green Alert was issued for most of the east and as far north as La Vega. According to Hoy, the last bulletin from the National Meteorological Office (Onamet) was forecasting "rains, lightning and some strong winds." However, what happened at Kilometer 9 of the Duarte Highway was more than that. Huge billboards were knocked over and somewhere between 25 and 30 expensive cars were heavily damaged. Local witnesses told El Caribe reporters that "it was a cross between a tornado and a thunderstorm." Among the damaged cars the reporters saw a 2008 Infinity SUV and a new Mercedes Benz. In Villa Marina II the winds blew the roof off of a mechanic's garage and threw it into some parked buses belonging to the Fenatrano transport union. Another billboard fell onto a building and an electricity pole also was knocked down. More showers are predicted for most of the country today. Despite the rains, higher temperatures are punishing the people. According to Diario Libre, people are seeking relief from the heat any way they can, inflating plastic pools or just lying under shade trees. Some parts of the Dominican Republic are reporting temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius. According to the Onamet statement, the increased heat is due in part to the high content of dust from the Sahara desert that is in the local atmosphere, preventing radiation and humidity from escaping the surface.

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