Tropical storm could dump relief over parched Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo-The National Hurricane Center on Thursday said Tropical Storm Bertha is the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season’s second storm, whose forecast trajectory could bring much needed rains to the Dominican Republic.

It said as of 11pm Thursday Bertha is just east of the southern Lesser Antilles, 445 kilometers east-southeast of Barbados, moving west-northwest at 31 kilometers per hour, “with tropical storm force winds extending up to 75 miles from its center.”

The storm could mean relief for the months-long drought in the Dominican Republic, blamed for widespread water shortages and the season’s first major forest fire, at Valle Nuevo, Constanza (central).