Santo Domingo | Weekend Rains in Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic’s Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported Thursday that 30 people have been died by the torrential downpours that hit the country over the weekend.
“There are no words to describe what happened, nor what we are feeling,” said Puerto Rican Giordano Martinez, who this Saturday lost his parents, sister and brother-in-law, who were died by the collapse of a wall of an overpass on one of the busiest roads in Santo Domingo.
The four Puerto Ricans died were identified as Ramon Martinez, Awilda Vasquez, Maria Nereida Martinez and Michael Orozco, who had come to the country for vacation. Their funeral is scheduled to take place this coming Friday and Saturday in Puerto Rico.
The Government of the Dominican Republic informed this Monday that it will review tunnels, overpasses and underpasses that are more than 15 years old.
The goal of this review will be to detect if these works “have flaws or weaknesses that can be mitigated,” the Ministry of Public Works said in a statement.
The heavy rains have left more than 37,000 people displaced, according to the most recent COE report. It adds that as of Wednesday some 779,531 remain without access to potable water.
More than 7,400 homes have been affected.