NewsWhore
08-23-2011, 03:50 PM
The coastline in the provinces of Nagua and Samana is littered with trees and pieces of flotsam. Over a thousand people have been displaced, and at least two towns were cut off due to flooding. This, so far, has been the effect of the passage of Hurricane Irene along the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The storm center did not touch land in the DR, and in a fortunate turn of events, only the weaker western and southern sides of the storm affected the local territory. Even while the center of Hurricane Irene did not touch the national territory, the effects of the storm have been felt all over the country, in the shape of rains, wind gusts and thunder and lightning.
As a result, hundreds of people have been displaced and classes have been suspended in public and private schools. Yesterday, several government offices were also closed. The relief agencies have activated their contingency plans and the Emergency Operations Center (COE) is maintaining its Red and Yellow alerts for all of the provinces in prevention of mudslides and floods, as Irene moves on a route that is expected to take it through the Turks & Caicos Islands and the Bahamas, as a destructive category 2 or 3 hurricane.
In the meantime, the National Meteorological Office (Onamet) forecast increasing rains for this morning, with possible accumulations of between 100 and 200 millimeters (4 and 8 inches), over the northern and southern coastlines. Yesterday afternoon rains were reported together with wind gusts in the provinces of Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Duarte, Samana, Hato Mayor, El Seibo, La Altagracia, La Vega, Monsignor Nouel, Sanchez Ramirez, Monte Plata and other places. The agency is maintaining its storm warnings for the area between Palenque and Cabo Engano, and hurricane warnings from Cabo Engano to the Bay of Manzanillo.
For eyewitness reports on Irene and other storms during this 2011 Hurricane Season in the Dominican Republic, see www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyond/115613-hurricane-season-2011-a.html (http://www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyond/115613-hurricane-season-2011-a.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
As a result, hundreds of people have been displaced and classes have been suspended in public and private schools. Yesterday, several government offices were also closed. The relief agencies have activated their contingency plans and the Emergency Operations Center (COE) is maintaining its Red and Yellow alerts for all of the provinces in prevention of mudslides and floods, as Irene moves on a route that is expected to take it through the Turks & Caicos Islands and the Bahamas, as a destructive category 2 or 3 hurricane.
In the meantime, the National Meteorological Office (Onamet) forecast increasing rains for this morning, with possible accumulations of between 100 and 200 millimeters (4 and 8 inches), over the northern and southern coastlines. Yesterday afternoon rains were reported together with wind gusts in the provinces of Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Duarte, Samana, Hato Mayor, El Seibo, La Altagracia, La Vega, Monsignor Nouel, Sanchez Ramirez, Monte Plata and other places. The agency is maintaining its storm warnings for the area between Palenque and Cabo Engano, and hurricane warnings from Cabo Engano to the Bay of Manzanillo.
For eyewitness reports on Irene and other storms during this 2011 Hurricane Season in the Dominican Republic, see www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyond/115613-hurricane-season-2011-a.html (http://www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyond/115613-hurricane-season-2011-a.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)