Tropical Storm Noel — the 14th named storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season — headed toward the Bahamas on Tuesday after causing flooding and mudslides that killed at least 20 people in the Dominican Republic and left another 20 missing, officials said.
Forecasters said a tropical-storm watch, which means that tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours, may be issued for south-east Florida later in the day.
The spinning tropical storm had been forecast to hit Haiti hardest but veered toward the Dominican Republic, apparently catching residents off guard on Monday.
”We didn’t know that it was going to be like this; it took us by surprise,” said Guarionex Rosado as he left his home in La Cienaga, one of Santo Domingo’s most affected neighbourhoods.
Noel temporarily knocked out the Dominican Republic’s entire power system early on Monday, plunging 9,4-million people into the dark for about two hours, said Radhames Segura, vice-president of the state-owned electric company.
Flights to and from the International Airport of the Americas near Santo Domingo were suspended.
Manuel Antonio Luna Paulino, president of the Dominican Republic’s National Emergency Commission, said at least 20 people had died and another 20 were reported missing.
They included three dead when they were swept up by a fast-moving river in San Jose de Ocoa, south-west of the capital. Three more — a couple and their child — were killed in a mudslide in the port city of Haina, officials said.
International aid workers believe the death toll is certain to rise as reports come in from remote areas of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
”I think this has taken some officials by surprise. The storm was predicted to go more toward Haiti,” said Holly Inuretta, a regional adviser for United States-based Catholic Relief Services.
Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said there were no immediate reports of casualties in his country, but he urged people to seek shelter. ”It’s moving very slowly and dropping a lot of rain,” he said.
Haiti is prone to deadly flooding because of its steep mountains and hills deforested by people who cut down the trees to make charcoal. Floods earlier this month killed at least 37 and sent more than 4 000 people to shelters.
At 9am GMT, Noel’s centre was about 435km south-southeast of Nassau, Bahamas. Forecasters said it had been moving toward the west at about 19km/h but was expected to turn toward the north-west later on Tuesday.
The storm swept past the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, but the heaviest rains appeared to have fallen over the Dominican Republic to the east. Haitian Civil Protection director Alta Jean-Baptiste said a few houses were destroyed in north-east Haiti, but there had been no reports of deaths or injuries.
David Wimhurst, a spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said UN forces in the provinces had received no reports of emergencies. ”It looks like we’re OK,” he said.
In 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne passed north of Haiti and buried the port city of Gonaives in mud, killing 3 000. In spring that same year, flooding in the south killed 2 000 more. In the first two weeks of October this year torrential rains killed 45 people, and made 1 000 people homeless.
In addition to Haiti, storm alerts were posted for the central Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos islands and Cuba.
The six-month hurricane season runs until the end of November. While the 14 storms so far this year are more than normal, it has been a far cry from the record-busting 2005 season, when 28 storms formed and several fierce hurricanes, including Katrina, slammed into the US. — Sapa-AP, Reuters