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Tropical Storm Noel curves toward Bahamas
Associated Press
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: News
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Floodwaters and mudslides spawned by Tropical Storm Noel killed at least 60 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, officials said Wednesday, raising the death toll as the storm regained force over water and curved toward Florida and the Bahamas.
Hardest-hit by the sluggish storm were the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, where thousands fled their homes and others sought refuge on rooftops.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm's center had emerged over the Atlantic and was regaining force after slogging across Cuba, where little damage was reported.
The forecasters said Noel should bend to the northeast, veering away from a collision with Florida and threatening the Bahamas instead. At 11 a.m. EDT, Noel's top sustained winds were near 50 mph, up from 40 mph earlier in the day.
It was centered about 175 miles south-southwest of Nassau in the Bahamas and was heading north-northwest near 8 mph.
Noel's outer bands pounded Hispaniola Tuesday, loosening denuded hillsides and endangering makeshift homes in gullies vulnerable to flash floods.
In the Dominican Republic, more than 50,000 people were driven from their homes and nearly 12,000 homes were damaged, while mudlsides and swollen rivers have isolated 36 towns, said Dominican emergency services spokesman Luis Luna Paulino.
He said 41 people were killed and 20 were missing.
About 1,000 prisoners were evacuated from a penitentiary because of flooding, and about 200 people sheltered in a sports complex in the town of Barahona, including Monica Segura, 28, and her family. They abandoned their riverside home Tuesday after water rushed in and caught them off-guard.
"I don't even know how I'm alive," she said. "I lost everything. The only thing that I could save was the clothes I was wearing."
Heavy rains also pounded Jamaica, where a woman died when her house collapsed in St. Andrews parish, the disaster office said.
Hardest-hit by the sluggish storm were the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, where thousands fled their homes and others sought refuge on rooftops.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm's center had emerged over the Atlantic and was regaining force after slogging across Cuba, where little damage was reported.
The forecasters said Noel should bend to the northeast, veering away from a collision with Florida and threatening the Bahamas instead. At 11 a.m. EDT, Noel's top sustained winds were near 50 mph, up from 40 mph earlier in the day.
It was centered about 175 miles south-southwest of Nassau in the Bahamas and was heading north-northwest near 8 mph.
Noel's outer bands pounded Hispaniola Tuesday, loosening denuded hillsides and endangering makeshift homes in gullies vulnerable to flash floods.
In the Dominican Republic, more than 50,000 people were driven from their homes and nearly 12,000 homes were damaged, while mudlsides and swollen rivers have isolated 36 towns, said Dominican emergency services spokesman Luis Luna Paulino.
He said 41 people were killed and 20 were missing.
About 1,000 prisoners were evacuated from a penitentiary because of flooding, and about 200 people sheltered in a sports complex in the town of Barahona, including Monica Segura, 28, and her family. They abandoned their riverside home Tuesday after water rushed in and caught them off-guard.
"I don't even know how I'm alive," she said. "I lost everything. The only thing that I could save was the clothes I was wearing."
Heavy rains also pounded Jamaica, where a woman died when her house collapsed in St. Andrews parish, the disaster office said.
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