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canarymoon · 11-01-2007, 08:15 PM

it seems that the male named storms bother us more than the female. <here in Bani, in the heavily hit southwest part of the country, we have had so much rain that <i wonder if we can handle any more and it is still coming. We have been without power since Sunday night and so <i am at an internet centre writing this and using a Spanish keyboard so please excuse the punctuation mistakes.
The rain started around noon on Saturday, with a thunder and lightning storm. The latter hit a tree across the street from us, fell and hit our power line and knocked out our inverter so we have been dependent on street electricity since then. Since this has been non existant, we are using a cooler filled with ice for our fridge.
The rain began in earnest Saturday evening, all day Sunday and <monday. Some time <monday morning the river crested and <i think it was 25 to 30 feet above normal. When <i saw it later in the morning it had gone down somewhat but it was still a ragin torrent and still is. Several people, maybe 20 maybe more lost their houses and many more had two or three feet of water in them which is now mud. <unpaved roads are difficult to drive on so you use your snow experience as mud and snow are more or less the same for driving.
According to the radio, 41 people are confirmed dead and about 40 are missing. Some people have spent three or four days on the roof of a school and some in trees waiting for rescue. The helicopters were busy today so hopefully everyone has been rescued.
The bridge in Paya broke in two but was fixed by Tuesday afternoon. The bridge that was out in Galleon is also fixed. The road to Ocoa is missing about 400 metres so no one can pass there. Azua is shut off from Bani by another bridge that is down.
<people who lost their houses are taking refuge in schools or with neighbours. <on <monday there were people moving their mattresses, beds, stoves and other possessions in pickup trucks to the school. The government is sending trucks with food and mattresses. Today we had a bit of sun and lines and fences all had clothes drying.
In other words, it is a mess here but at least now we in Bani can communicate with the capital, if not with other parts of the southwest. <hopefully it will stop raining soon.

canarymoon · 11-03-2007, 11:50 AM

weather in Sto. Domingo

From: "****
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 13:11:48 +0100

Buenos dias

My lack of reports of the tragedy that afflict us was caused first for my lack of access to the internet and to the excelent job of my fellow correspondents. Congrats to them.

The news is all bad. The death toll reached 73 this morning. some 40 missing, God help them. Comunications are being restored and isolated areas are again reachable. Crops lost and flooded land will bring trouble for everybody for months. So many lost their loved ones and their homes that there are no words to describe the suffering.

Shame on those that failed to warn in time of the approaching storm!!!!

We need all the help the world can give us. To those that allready responded, many thanks. A lot of work is now needed to prevent epidemics in crowded shelters. Water sanitation and prevention of mosquitoes breeding is extremly dificcult under flooding condition.

canarymoon · 11-03-2007, 11:51 AM

Noel in D.R.

From: "****"
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 14:24:44 +0100

Good morning yàll

More bad news, the death toll keeps climbing for remote areas are being reached. A lot of help has arrived from friendly countries, also locally help is being distributed privately and some officially (?). One more problem, schools are used as refuges. Heaven knows when classes will resume in those areas.

Still some rain, not much, but falls on saturated earth, not good.
Recieved lots of emails, thanks to all.

canarymoon · 11-05-2007, 10:35 AM

Greetings from Bani!
The river has really gone down; it's only about waist deep but still flowing very quickly. People who still have houses near the river are trying to salvage anything. Everyone is shovelling out mud and using the muddy river water to get out most of the mud from clothes, shoes, house, etc. Mattresses are drying out all over. Shoes are on the roofs. Some people have salvaged stuffed toys and these are drying on the roofs as well. But everywhere there is mud, mud, and more mud!. The narrow streets, if you can call them that as they are only about fifteen feet wide, have water and mud in the middle and people are walking close to the houses on more solid ground. Thanks be to God that the sun has been out these last two days and most people have electricity. Some areas are still marooned

Today being Sunday, prayers were offered in the churches for those who died. They say that 59 people died in Santa Rosa which is a barrio of Bani, south of the bridge. That is where most of the houses were lost although several other areas had people who lost houses as well. In one area part of the road has been eaten away.

This evening we had two periods of rain - not for long, but the rain really came down. When will it all end?