A total of 21 deaths have been recorded in the Dominican Republic due to the floods caused by heavy rains in much of the country.
The figures were published by the Emergency Operations Center (COE), and include four Puerto Ricans and three Haitians, adding that there are more than 13,000 people evacuated from their homes.
The COE has maintained the alert in 30 of the country’s 32 provinces, 14 of them at the red level, twelve at the yellow level and five at the green level, because the meteorological disturbance continues to develop and may cause more precipitation in the coming hours. However, these figures may continue to increase, in addition to being lower than those reported by local media.
The torrential rains have caused floods, landslides, overflows of rivers and streams, and have affected various infrastructures, including eight roads and six bridges. They have also caused cuts in the electricity and drinking water supply, which has made life difficult for the inhabitants.
The bulletin states that there are problems in 24 circuits of the electricity distribution company Edesur, which affects 87,442 customers, which represents 10.96% of subscribers. In addition, 110 aqueducts of the National Institute of Drinking Water and Sewerage (Inapa) were out of service, which affects the supply of 1,816,371 users, to which another 480,000 must be added due to the loss of service of three systems of the Aqueduct Corporation. and Sewerage of Santo Domingo (Caasd).
Three of the 21 people lived in the area where Yoselín Vania Estévez resides, who knew the deceased well.. As stated in EFE, the floods in the sector are generated by a residential area that lacks a drain, so the rainfall was accumulating.
The property “filled up to the entire fence, like a large swimming pool,” the wall ended up bursting, letting out a torrent that carried away its three neighbors, who drowned, also dragging several vehicles, Estévez said. According to what he said, the water “had never risen to my house in my life,” but this time it did come, ruining all the contents of the house, “everything was lost,” and she was evacuated by the firefighters.
The Dominican authorities have asked the population to follow the recommendations of the COE and avoid exposing themselves to risk situations. Likewise, they have announced that rescue, assistance and cleaning work is being carried out in the affected areas, and that work is being done to restore basic services as soon as possible.
With information from the EFE agency
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