Heavy rainfall over the weekend is blamed for the deaths of two people in the Cibao region and the flooding of hundred of homes and businesses in Puerto Plata and Santiago.

The current weather conditions are apparently the result of the combined effect of a trough over Haiti and a stationary low pressure system surrounding the island. Rains are expected to continue over the majority of the country and the Emergency Operations Centre (COE) has heightened alerts in ten provinces. Hundreds of families in the Gurabo area have already been evacuated and urged not to return to their homes until flood water recede. Everyone in vulnerable areas is being urged to move out until conditions improve.