DR: President Calls for Emergency Meeting on Rains

May 9, 2024 Hour: 2:30 pm

On Wednesday night, the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, called an emergency meeting to find out details of the rainfall situation due to the heavy rains caused by several troughs, the presidential website reported today.

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Abinader summoned all the rescue agencies to the National Palace upon his return from Washington, United States, who updated the President and Vice President Raquel Peña on the impact of the rainfall in several localities.

The Emergency Operations Centre (COE) has maintained several communities and five provinces on maximum red alert since Wednesday, due to heavy rains, thunderstorms and wind gusts that continue to affect several territories, and have caused damage to homes, cut off communities, landslides and flash floods.

The provinces on red alert are Duarte (especially Bajo Yuna), La Vega, Puerto Plata, Montecristi and Santiago Rodríguez.

El COE mantiene 01 provincia en alerta roja, 21 y al Distrito Nacional en amarilla y 04 en verde, debido a que una vaguada continúa provocando un ambiente húmedo e inestable, generando fuertes lluvias, tronadas y ráfagas de viento. pic.twitter.com/5grYD1hWna

— COE (@COE_RD)
May 9, 2024

The text reads,

The COE maintains 01 province on red alert, 21 and the National District in yellow and 04 in green, because a trough continues to cause a humid and unstable environment, generating heavy rains, thunderstorms and gusts of wind.

Faced with this situation, the director of the COE, General (r) Juan Manual Méndez, said that “the government has coordinated well” and reported that the Administrative Minister of the Presidency, Igor Rodríguez, has visited various communities to bring social assistance.

According to the COE, the rains have also caused flooding of rivers, streams and creeks, as well as urban flooding in the National District and the provinces of Santo Domingo, Santiago Rodríguez, Elías Piña, Puerto Plata, Duarte, Monte Plata and La Vega.

A landslide was reported in Elías Piña which partially cut off the community of La Tinaja with Sobacon, while in Monte Plata, due to the overflowing of the Ozama River, the towns of Serralles, La Cuaba, La Gina and Centro de Pensó were cut off.

Also in La Vega there was urban flooding in several neighbourhoods and there are some 700 homes with damage, said the Civil Defence, but as the hours pass it warned that the damage could be greater.