One dead, 12,581 evacuated in Dominican Republic flooding

Santo Domingo.- Hurricane Sandy’s downpours forced the people, according to the Emergency Operations Center’s (COE), latest figures, with 104 towns cut off and one person dead an another missing.

Numerous rivers and streams overflowed their banks and damaged 1,149 houses, with several bridges collapsed.

The Public Works Ministry said only heavy vehicles can cross the section of road next to the southern municipality of Azua, from the landslides and flooding.

In Barahona province, which has the most rainfall at around 278 mm, 200 houses were damaged, and 42 in the towns Jaquimeyes and Bombita.

Towns are also cut off near eastern Bayaguana and Monte Plata.

The COE director Juan Manuel Mendez said alerts were heightened in most parts of the country, as rivers crest.

The downpours from Sandy, which remains a category 2 hurricane, will continue until at least noon Saturday, according to the National Meteorological Office (Onamet).

One dead, one missing

Also reported was the death of a young man and the disappearance of another, after he was swept away by a rising stream in San Pedro (east).