Rains flood Santiago hospitals

Santiagode los Caballeros.- Heavy rains affecting the country’s second-largest cityovernight left one elderly woman dead, two public hospitals flooded and600 people displaced from their homes.

In ElHoyo de Caimito, in Santiago, 150 homes were flooded, while in El Hoyo deBaitoa, in Gurabo, two houses were completely destroyed by a landslide.

The Directorof the Emergency Operations Center (COE), General Juan Manuel Méndez, reportedthat the neighborhoods of Colegio México, El Hoyo de Julia, Entrada delElegido, Bartolomé Colón, Estrella Sadhalá, El Ensueño, J. Armando Bermúdez,Cienfuegos, Ingenio Abajo, Avenida Hispanoamericana, La Gloria and thecommunity of La Muñeca were flooded due to the deficiencies in the drainage systems.

Therainwater flooded the ground floors of the Arturo Grullón and the José María Cabraly Báez hospitals Tuesday evening, affecting the patients as well as the medicalstaff on duty. Accordingto reports, the water in the Cabral y Báez Hospital was knee-deep, and theauthorities had to take urgent measures.

An eighty-year old woman drowned onTuesday after being swept away while trying to cross a gully that had burst itsbanks. She was identified as Rafaela Peralta Rodríguez, who had been reportedmissing by her family.

The tragedy occurred in the community ofCorozo in San José de las Matas, in the province of Santiago, where the victimlived.