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Hurricane latest
Torrential rain has caused the rivers to rise and burst their banks in La Hoya as the eye of Hurricane Ike hit Cuba on 10 September 2008.
Connie DiLeo (Project Director) remarks in her latest email that "It is hard to believe that La Hoya had never flooded in the history of the village and now within a year, it has been flooded twice. We are again evacuated to Barahona. Thankfully, Bombita has not been flooded. It seems there is some reason that the water went to canal Trujillo and not to the river that passes Bombita."
Local people in La Hoya managed to move all their furniture in time. People in Bombita are experiencing an easier task in the clean-up operation due to their new concrete floors. Connie says " We do not need any financial help, but thank you for your prayers and for the response after Tropical Storm Noel as it is giving us strength during the present flood."
Severe weather conditions brought about by hurricanes Gustav and more recently Ike have had an impact on the Dominican Republic.
On 6 September COPA volunteers working in La Hoya and Bombita were evacuated. By the end of weekend the weather was starting to improve and the Bombita team started to consider returning to the village, but then the rain came again late on Sunday 7 September. In an email Connie Di Leo (Project Director) said that "it just poured for 8 hours and then I recived a call to say that La Hoya was beginning to flood." Volunteers and local people are still not back in the villages. The country is saturated. Officials lowered the level of water in the nearby dam at the end of last week but fortunately the Barhona area did not get the amount of rain that was expected. However, the area is still on 'red alert' and water is now being released from the dam. Connie notes that "it isn't actually raining now, but we will need to watch what happens with the dam." It could be an anxious wait.
At the end of last week, the level of canal Trujillo was worryingly high; people can still remember the flood in La Hoya last November as a result of Tropical Storm Noel. Items in the schools and the accommodation blocks have been placed as high as possible. Connie comments that "it has not been an easy hurricane season."
Further details of the recent weather conditions in the Caribbean can be found at these links on the BBC website: Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Gustav.
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