One person died, hundreds were displacedThousands of people without electricity, overflowing rivers, the collapse of a bridge and the falling of trees are the panorama that leaves this Monday. After Hurricane Fiona has passed Dominican Republic.
The results of the meteorological phenomenon, which was category 1 out of a maximum of 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, led the Director to declare the provinces most affected by hurricane-related rain and winds as emergency zones: La Altagracia, La Romana, El Seibo, Hato Mayor and Monte Plata, all in the east, and María Trinidad Sánchez, Duarte and Samaná to the northeast.
Dominican President Luis Abinader announced at a press conference this Monday that it will relocate tomorrow to La Altagracia, one of the hardest-hit areas. Fiona is the first hurricane to hit this Caribbean country in the past eighteen years.
The effects of the hurricane and the way to deal with them have left Abinader yet to decide whether to make it to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, as announced on Sunday. “Now the priority is here, the problems in the Dominican Republic,” said the president, predicting that if the New York trip were to take place, it would be “for a very short time”.
Caused by winds from Fiona, which hit Puerto Rico the day before, in the municipality of Nagua (in the north-east of the country). most death 72 year old man Franklyn Taveras, the Civil Defense Director of that city, informed EFE that he was trying to prune a tree in the yard of his house when it fell on him.
A preliminary report from the Emergency Operations Center (COE) stated that 789 people left their homes and more than 11,500 customers were without electricity due to the hurricane that affected 54 homes. On the other hand, the Ministry of Public Works and Communications reported that a bridge collapsed in the north near the Duarte highway, the busiest in the country.
After Fiona entered the Dominican Republic winds of 150 kilometers per hour and highercaused the toppling of trees and power lines in the eastern and northeastern provinces of the country. The international airports at Juan Bosch and La Romana in Samaná, and the local airport at Arroyo Barril, also in Samaná, are still closed. This local afternoon, Punta Cana International Airport, the country’s top tourist destination, reported that the first flight had landed after Fiona’s pass.
The National Health Service (SNS) reported that maternity and mother-child hospitals were affected in La Altagracia. In the first, strong winds knocked over the front fence, and in the second, downed power lines caused a power outage. To deal with all these effects, the Executive Board issued a decree declaring emergency procedures necessary to assist the provinces most affected by the hurricane. In this way, twenty government agencies are empowered to take immediate action on issues related to medicine, food, the energy system, water supply in general, and welfare and education, among other issues.
Authorities anticipate that Downpour linked to Fiona to continue Tuesday Maintain alert conditions throughout the region and the hardest hit areas, including the Dominican capital and the state with minimal rainfall.