By IANS
Santo Domingo : The heavy rains that accompanied tropical storm Noel have left at least 74 people dead on the island of Hispaniola in the Dominican Republic.
According to the emergency management office here, 56 Dominicans perished in flooding and mudslides, while another 27 have been missing, the Spanish news agency EFE reported Thursday. More than 58,000 people have been evacuated to safety.
It also reported that as many as 52 communities have been cut off from the rest of the country. Relief operations are slow and difficult, as roads have been badly damaged.
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said he had already received offers of assistance from several countries. The country’s head of civil defence, Luis Luna Paulino, said that the situation was under control and ruled out declaration of a state of public calamity.
In neighbouring Haiti, authorities reported 18 deaths in flooding and mudslides.Civil protection chief Alta Jean-Baptiste said that some 3,000 people had been evacuated nationwide.
Haitian ministers travelled to the hardest-hit areas as part of what Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime called a “total mobilization” to cope with the aftermath of the storm.
Bien-Aime said that the authorities have around $1 million available for relief operations. The UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, known as Minustah, has also provided food and supplies, he said.