More flooding and mudslides are expected throughout the Dominican Republic as another storm passes over. Nearly all regions of the DR are expected to be affected by the storm that will be hitting the island later this afternoon. It is expected that the storm will hit harder in the Northwest, North and Northeast mountains.

April 25 Warnings

A Flash Flood warning was issued yesterday for Puerto Plata, Santiago, and Maria Tinidad Sanchez and alerts were issued for areas near Samana. (more…)

The latest in a barrage of tropical storms is heading in the direction of the DR. While it already has 65 mile per hour winds it is rather disorganized and does not appear to be likely to turn into a hurricane.

It’s current direction gives the impression it will likely head well north of the DR and will only bless us with some more rain. We should be starting to feel the affects of the storm late Saturday to Sunday. Don’t cancel your beach plans for the weekend yet, Ophelia is expected to weaken over the course of the next few days.

We are planning a trip to Puerto Plata this weekend and are hoping it will die down considerably. We will be taking advantage to the $11 per night All Inclusive deal offered by CheapCaribbean.com for the Lifestyles resort. (more…)

We seem to have a rather busy storm systems this year, as soon as one passes the Dominican Republic the next puts its sights on us. Tropical Storm Maria is expect to pass through the Lesser Antilles tonight and is currently head directly toward Punta Cana and the northern portion of the DR. The center of the storm is expected to be near Punta Cana Sunday morning.

While it is too early to say whether it will really affect us there is already a tropical storm watch for St. Barthelemy, St. Martin and Marinique. There is a tropical storm warning in affect for Guadeloupe, St Martin, Saba, Steustantius, Antigua, Anguilla, Burbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, Saint Kitts, the British Islands, Dominica, the US Virgin Island, and Puerto Rico.

The maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph and tropical force storm winds are extending 154 miles outward from the center, mostly in the North East direction. (more…)

Hurricane Katia has been upgraded to a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. At this point Katia is traveling between the Dominican Republic / Bahamas and Burmuda. So for now there is no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

That doesn’t mean that it is having no affect on the DR though. I’ve had reports of the surf being heavy enough that it is best to avoid the beach in Las Terrenas. (more…)

Last night tropical storm Katia was upgraded to a category 1 hurricane causing concern to residents to many the Northern coastal cities of the Dominican Republic. Having just cleaned up the mess caused by Hurricane Irene many are concerned about possible temporary affects to the tourism in the area.

While it does look like Katia will be continuing to gain strength over the next few days, possible even reaching the status of major hurricane by the weekend, (more…)

Well, we’ve just started to get over Hurricane Irene and clean up the damage and we already have the next storm brewing. Tropical storm Katia is still quite a ways from the Dominican Republic and it is not certain whether it will get very close but it gives us something to watch. While we have reached the hurricane season in the DR there is no reason to get too excited about most of these storms, most blow over pretty quickly with little damage.

Katia is about 535 miles west by southwest of Cape Verde and will take around 5 days to reach us if it keeps it current speed and course. While tropical storm Katia only has sustained winds of about 40 mph right now it is expected to be strengthen over the next few days. Right now there is a 20-30% chance of Katia reaching hurricane force. The National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center is publishing their report here

Should I cancel my plans to visit the DR?

Many people have spent a lot of money planning for their dream vacation in the DR and are now wondering if they should cancel their plans because of hurricane Irene. While it doesn’t hurt to call the resort or hotel that you plan on staying at it is unlikely that there is a need to change your plans.

Buildings in the tourist areas, especially the resorts are constructed to withstand high winds and rain. The cute little thatch huts, umbrellas and other shelters near the beach are quickly rebuilt after a storm. During the storms businesses are shut down and locked up to protect the stores and restaurants. Islands like the DR get a lot of rain and wind at times and the business owners know how to keep things safe.

I’ve been talking with Philippe, the owner of La Residencia Del Paseo in Las Terrenas so see how things are going there. (more…)

As expected Hurricane Irene inflicted quite a bit of damage to the DR. Irene slowly moved past Puerto Plata as a category 2 hurricane lashing the area with sustained winds up to 95 mph. More than 100 families were evacuated from the Puerto Plata area and moved to improvised shelters. At least 14 houses were destroyed by the sea. A canal also overflowed in the LA Javilla area engulfing several houses and causing the evacuation of at least 15 families.

Landslides caused by the heavy rain were found on the Luperon Highway connecting Santiago and Puerto Plata causing traffic issues on this heavily used route.

Schools reopened

Both public and private schools were closed yesterday due to the hurricane. While for the most part they were reopened this morning, in some areas there are still hard rains and winds keeping schools in a few areas of the country closed.

Santo Domingo

Two of the rivers in Santo Domingo burst their banks (more…)

The latest advisory from the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center states that the Dominican Republic is now in a Tropical storm warning instead of a hurricane warning.

Hurricane Irene is currently north of Puerto Plata and starting to pull away from the DR and is in a direct route for the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as the central Bahamas on Thursday.

Even with Irene leaving large amounts of rain is expected to fall over the island of Hispaniola. As much a 15 inches could fall in the higher terrains of the northern part of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Residents still need to watch for flash floods and possible mud slides as well as poor driving conditions if they plan on traveling. (more…)

As of 8:30 pm Hurricane Irene was upgraded to a category 2 hurricane and is expected to continue to strengthen possibly becoming a major hurricane on Tuesday.

Wind within the hurricane are now being sustained at 100 mph with higher gusts. These hurricane force winds now extend as far as 45 miles outward from the center of the storm.

Hurricane Irene has again slowed its pace, it is now heading west-northwest at 10mph a decrease of 3 miles per hour over the last few hours. The National Weather Service does expect this forward momentum to pick up again over night and into Tuesday.

The latest storm advisory came with no new changes in the watches and warnings. These watches and advisories are from the noaa.gov site (National Hurricane Center of the National Weather Service).

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