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Rains, floods ravage Hispaniola

Residents in boats make their way through flood water in the Arenoso Community, Duarte Province, 180km northeast of the Domincan Republic's capital of Santo Domingo on Monday after several days of torrential rains pounded the island of Hispaniola. PHOTO: EPA

Torrential Caribbean rainstorms have killed at least 100 people in the Dominican Republic and 58 in Haiti, authorities said on Monday, and hundreds more are homeless after a river overflowed.

Frantic relatives dug through the mud for loved ones as a makeshift morgue filled up with 100 corpses of people swept away in rains that devoured a small farming village near the border with Haiti.

Nearly 200 others were missing and feared dead, National Emergency Commission Director Rad-hames Lora Salcedo said on Monday, hours after rains caused the Solie River to burst its banks before daybreak. Only a torrent of debris-filled mud flowed where houses once stood.

Bloated bodies caked with mud were piled in a hospital's makeshift morgue in western Jimani. A reporter estimated there were about 100 bodies.

Some of the corpses were left at the side of the road, waiting for relatives to identify and claim them.

Through the darkness, stunned townspeople roamed the streets, shocked over the gruesome scene. Some reached their hands through banks of mud in search of missing relatives. Surrounded by sugar cane fields and east of the border, many of the dead were believed to be Haitians.

"They found my daughter. Now I have to see if I have some family left," said Elena Diaz, 42, sobbing in a long line outside the morgue where she went to look for her son-in-law and three grandchildren.

She said her daughter's house was swept away. Most homes were destroyed or heavily damaged; few were left intact.

About 300 Dominican soldiers and about 25 ambulances were being sent from the capital of Santo Domingo, about 177km away.

In Santo Domingo, one person drowned and another was electrocuted, as the rains toppled electrical lines, cutting power to large parts of the population.

Farmer Jose Altagracia Perez said he was in his house about 3am Monday when the water began to rise, leaving little time for action.

"The house is all gone. The river came and took everything. Now I don't have anything," said the 60-year-old Altagracia, waiting in line outside the morgue and looking for his three-year-old son.

In northern San Francisco de Macoris, two men died when they were swept away by an overflowing river, Lora Salcedo said.

Another man died when he was caught in strong currents as he fished off the coast.

About 450 homes were flooded throughout the Caribbean country, and at least 14 small towns had power outages and toppled phone lines, Lora Salcedo said.

Victims were staying at shelters set up in churches or with family.

Heavy rains persisted through Monday in some areas, leaving small towns and roads flooded west of Santo Domingo. More rains were expected yesterday.

In Haiti, 58 people were killed in Fonds Verette, northeast of Port-au-Prince, a parish priest told Radio Metropole. The downpour has caused landslides and has isolated communities.

Less serious flooding was reported in Puerto Rico, claiming at least four lives. And one man was killed when a freighter sank off the north coast of Puerto Rico.
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