Hurricane: 625,000 evacuees, 62 towns cut off

Santo Domingo.- President Danilo Medina met with the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) near noon to assess the damages caused by Hurricane Sandy across the country thus far.

Medina instructed Committee agencies such as Civil Defense and the Armed Forces to take necessary measures to prevent casualties, and the deployment of mobile kitchens to the southern and northwestern cities and some barrios, to provide meals for displaced families.

The COE said 11 provinces are on high alert, including Greater Santo Domingo and the National District, where it reports the by washed out roads, including 48 communities in Azua (southwest) as Yaque del Sur river is spilling over its banks.