SANTO DOMINGO, April 13 (Reuters) – Some 30,000 people have evacuated their homes in the Dominican Republic over recent days due to torrential rains from weather systems that have hovered over the Caribbean nation hurling rain onto much of its northern region for more than a month.
Local media reported three people had died, including a seven-year-old girl who tried to cross a river, a 19-year-old man who tried to cross on horseback, and an infant girl in the capital, where the wall of her house collapsed due to the rains.
“The government’s priority at this time is to save lives, protect property and preserve infrastructure,” President Luis Abinader’s office said in a statement on Monday, urging people to stay away from vulnerable areas.
Abinader declared a national emergency in five provinces as well as in the capital.
A day earlier, the country’s Emergency Operations Center (COE) Director Juan Manuel Mendez told a press conference 30,500 people had been evacuated, 14 communities were left isolated, 6,100 homes were flooded and highways and bridges were damaged.
“The rains will continue,” meteorological institute chief Gloria Ceballos said on Monday, noting these should ease slightly before intensifying again on the weekend.
“We have a frontal system that remains stationary in the northeast,” she said. “The soil is already saturated. We have had practically 45 days of it raining every day in some parts of the territory.”
In the nearby U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, authorities warned that heavy rain and thunderstorms could trigger urban flooding later on Monday.
(Reporting by Paul Mathiasen in Santo Domingo, Ricardo Arduengo in San Juan and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; editing by David Gaffen)
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