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At Least 8 Die As Storm Floods Caribbean Islands

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By RAMON ESPINOSA, The Associated Press

Published: December 13, 2007

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic - Tropical Storm Olga triggered floods and landslides in this Caribbean nation Wednesday, killing at least seven people and forcing thousands to flee their homes, authorities said. One person also died in Puerto Rico.

Hardest hit was the northern Dominican province of Santiago, where heavy rains forced authorities to release water from a near-capacity dam into the already swollen Yaque river. The provincial governor said at least seven towns were totally flooded.

People complained on local radio that they were not warned of the water release from the dam, and officials acknowledged it might have caused some of the deaths.

"We have an emergency situation. It's a catastrophe," Gov. Jose Izquierdo said.

Olga weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday afternoon, but rain continued to fall from a system that forecasters said could bring as much as 10 inches to some parts of the Dominican Republic.

Radhames Jimenez, attorney general of the Dominican Republic, said at least seven people were killed and 5,000 evacuated. The storm was also blamed for one death in Puerto Rico, where a rain-triggered avalanche buried a sport utility vehicle.

Families living along the banks of the swollen Yuna River near Santiago were evacuating, placing mattresses atop their heads and climbing aboard motorcycles headed toward higher ground. Televisions and small ovens were stacked outside humble wooden homes, ready to be moved. Trucks carrying soldiers headed toward Santiago province.

As heavy rains overwhelmed the Tavera Dam near Santiago, the country's second-largest city, officials decided to release water to prevent the dam from collapsing, said Octavio Rodriguez, a civil defense official on the committee that decided to flood the river.

By midnight Tuesday, all of the dam's doors were open and 1.6 million gallons were pouring through every second.

"We knew the damage we were going to cause below. We did not want to, but we had to," Rodriguez said. In light of the potential catastrophe of a dam collapse, he called the resulting death toll "acceptable."

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