A natural disaster mourns the Dominican Republic. The torrential rains that fell on the country left at least 21 dead, authorities announced on Sunday.
Three of the deceased are minor children, according to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). There are four Americans and three Haitians among the victims.
A wall collapses on several vehicles
The highest number of deaths, nine, was caused by the collapse of a wall on Saturday on several vehicles traveling on one of the main avenues of the capital, Santo Domingo, according to the COE. The water “seeped into a saturated basement” and the foundations of the concrete wall gave way, explained the Ministry of Public Works which opened an investigation.
Nine other people died in the capital in floods and when a wall in a house collapsed. A man also died after being swept away by waters in the province of San José de Ocoa (south) and two people died in similar circumstances in the province of La Altagracia (east).
The precipitation recorded during the 48 hours is the heaviest “ever recorded in the Dominican Republic,” said President Luis Abinader. His government kept 30 of the country’s 32 provinces on alert on Sunday and 14 on red alert, due to the rains which continue to fall on a large part of the territory. Some 13,000 people were evacuated from risk areas, according to the emergency operations center.
Abinader points finger at climate change
The rainfall led to power and drinking water outages in some areas. Schools are closed until Wednesday in order to assess the extent of the damage in schools and “guarantee the safety” of students. The government has called on the population to “avoid” risky activities over the coming days.
According to President Abinader, these torrential rains are the consequence of climate change. “Those who don’t believe in climate change need to start believing in it,” said the president, who spoke of “widespread and substantial” damage, without giving figures.