SANTO DOMINGO. - More than 10,000 people have now been evacuated as downpours sparked flooding in the Cibao region (north), with 2,097 houses damaged, seven severely and three destroyed.
Emergency Operations Center (COE) director Juan Méndez said the drainage of Tavera dam and swollen rivers caused damages, with 17 provinces still under a flood watch.
He said five communities have been cut off, three bridges and three highways damaged, and evacuations continue in the towns Gaspar Hernandez and Montecristi, where water from the dam has also begun to rise.
He said the rains also flooded plantations of bananas, peppers and rice in the Cibao region.
Mendez also recommended that the people who live in vulnerable areas be alert to mudslides, and that Tavera continues to drain.

"The Voice of Reason"
For example, a NATIONAL LIGHT RAIL along improved ROADWAYS with state-of-art drainage systems & river levees and hydro dams to control water currents to feed waste water treatment plants ran off Hydro-power & capturing excess fresh water to use, store & distribute more clean water for drinking & irrigation to remote areas.
If the RD picked up trash & burned with clean coal to produced more energy cheaply then the electric would be on longer, the RD RAIL & improved roadways would move MORE products to ports for export cheaper & faster so that crops would bring top dollar but less subject to ruin & spoilage during any season. As the energy costs decrease the RD becomes more globally competitive with DR-CAFTA, cheap labor & closer to US/EU major markets than Asia.
Lets spend millions on a RD RAIL (above ground) network to move both people/goods & eliminate gas guzzling buses & trucks!