The last twenty four hours in the Dominican Republic have been subject to the outer bands of Hurricane Ike as it has travelled past the island.  Bringing very high winds, rain and high ocean surges still on Sunday evening strong gusts are billowing through the north coast of the Dominican Republic with rainfall.  Saturday afternoon saw the introduction of Ike's passing with howling winds and rough Atlantic ocean and by nightfall rain gusts were bringing down branches and debris from flooding.  Approx at the moment the count for displaced families in the Dominican Republic stands at 43,835 people with over 8,000 families having lost their houses completely.