At least 1 dead, 2 missing as Tropical Storm Franklin batters Dominican Republic
Tropical Storm Franklin unleashed heavy floods and landslides in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday after making landfall in the country’s southern region, killing at least one person and leaving two others missing.
The storm began to slowly spin away late Wednesday afternoon from the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti, after dumping heavy rain for several hours.
Forecasters warned that the storm could drop up to 12 inches of rain in the Dominican Republic, with a maximum of 16 inches for the country’s western and central regions. Meanwhile, up to 4 inches of rain is forecast for Haiti, with nearly 8 inches in the country’s eastern regions.
“The population of the Dominican Republic must all be right now, without exception, in their homes, the homes of friends and family, or in shelters,” said Juan Manuel Méndez, emergency operations director.
The Civil Defense said a man died in the city of San Cristobal after being swept away by floodwaters. Two women in the city were injured after a landslide, officials said.
More than 350 people were huddled in shelters in the Dominican Republic, where emergency operations officials said they were looking for a 54-year-old man with mental health problems who went missing after he jumped into a creek late Tuesday. Meanwhile, José Luis Cabrera of the Civil Defense told Noticias SIN that a teenage boy was missing after a river swept him away Wednesday.
Authorities say the death toll from a powerful explosion near the capital of the Dominican Republic has risen to 10. Eleven others are missing.
“Six of them jumped in, and one of them didn’t make it back,” he said.
An additional 280 people were evacuated from their homes to safer ground, with at least six communities cut off by heavy rains, officials said.
The storm also downed several trees and at least two lampposts, with dozens of homes affected by floods that turned streets into rushing rivers. Authorities said the roof of one home in San Cristobal collapsed, as did walls of various buildings around the country.
“There’s a lot of damage,” Méndez said.
Hilary, the first tropical storm to hit Los Angeles in 84 years, was full of surprises, battering some Southern California areas but sparing others.
The United Nations’ World Food Program warned Wednesday that some 125,000 people in the Dominican Republic are living in areas that “are extremely vulnerable to landslides and flash floods because they live in poor, overcrowded settlements near rivers, creeks, and lagoons.”
Hércules Urbáez, a 41-year-old father of six who lives in the coastal city of Barahona, where Franklin made landfall, said he and his family went to his mother’s house for safety.
“People have refused to leave,” he said.
On Wednesday night, the storm was centered about 75 miles south-southeast of Grand Turk Island, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It had maximum winds of 40 mph with stronger gusts and was moving northward at 13 mph.
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Rivers swelled across the Dominican Republic, with one in Barahona lapping at shacks made of tin where one resident used plastic buckets to raise his mattress above his home’s dirt floor.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Harold weakened into a tropical depression Tuesday night after making landfall in South Texas, bringing strong winds and rain, leaving thousands of homes without power.
In the Caribbean, officials were most concerned about Franklin’s impact on Haiti, which is prone to catastrophic flooding because of the country’s severe erosion.
“Haiti is among the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to the effects of extreme weather,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, the World Food Program’s director for Haiti. In June, a powerful thunderstorm that unleashed heavy rains left more than 40 people dead across the country.
Disasters like the Lahaina fire are becoming increasingly likely as warmer temperatures, development, and land management policies create conditions ripe for fire.
Franklin is the seventh named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. An eighth named storm, Gert, dissipated Tuesday.
On Aug. 10, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration updated its forecast and warned that this year’s hurricane season would be above normal. Fourteen to 21 named storms are forecast. Of those, six to 11 could become hurricanes, with two to five of them possibly becoming major hurricanes.
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