OLGA's Aftermath

[cycloneye]

Cabarete Dominican Republic. A lot of damage here on the sea front, much repairs to do and to my apartment. The river overflowed in Sabaneta the barrios are in dreadful state and along the main Islabon road (Cabarete to Sabaneta) the people are putting out what they can salvage from their little homes to dry but even now its raining. Cant get into some of the barrios, I finally managed to get into some only last Saturday and that was after the damage caused by Noel so I hate to think what those poor people are suffering now. Im going to try tomorrow if the rain stops and keep you posted. Thank you cyloneye for all your info, my precautions didnt help at all the winds saw to that, I cant even get my door open

The most important thing is that you are safe and alive.The damage things can be fixed but life cannot.

[Ladybbird]

Cabarete Dominican Republic. A lot of damage here on the sea front, much repairs to do and to my apartment. The river overflowed in Sabaneta the barrios are in dreadful state and along the main Islabon road (Cabarete to Sabaneta) the people are putting out what they can salvage from their little homes to dry but even now its raining. Cant get into some of the barrios, I finally managed to get into some only last Saturday and that was after the damage caused by Noel so I hate to think what those poor people are suffering now. Im going to try tomorrow if the rain stops and keep you posted. Thank you cyloneye for all your info, my precautions didnt help at all the winds saw to that, I cant even get my door open

The most important thing is that you are safe and alive.The damage things can be fixed but life cannot.

I agree it saddens me though to see what they go through

[Category 5]

14 dead, at least.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iv1 ... KcsUjVXHWQ

[Ladybbird]

The authorities killed these people NOT olga

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/ ... eather.php

[HURAKAN]

19 deaths in the DR.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/ ... n-Republic

[artist]

that just makes me sick.

[Derek Ortt]

about releasing the water

It mayh have had to be done to prevent a total break of the flood control system, like what happened with New Orleans. If the levee would have failed, the results would have been far worse

[quaqualita]

about releasing the water

It mayh have had to be done to prevent a total break of the flood control system, like what happened with New Orleans. If the levee would have failed, the results would have been far worse

Derek, you are absolutely right, the water has been released to provide a total damage to the damn. However, doing so in the middle of the night without sufficiently warning the population in the water's path is a crime committed by the Dominican authorities.
There is a jail nearby, they could have sent a few police cars with horns in the areas, which they did not. Even among the poorest Dominicans almost everybody here has nowadays a cell phone, they could have sent out text messages to everybody, which they did not, etc, etc, etc... if they would have really cared about the people, there would have been many ways to avoid such a disaster. Aparently one or two warning have been broadcasted via TV, but how many are watching TV at night, specially when in most areas there was no power at this time. Instead the authorities call the death toll 'acceptable', and don't believe the 19 deaths, the real numbers will be never known to the public to make the Dominican government not look too bad.

[Derek Ortt]

how urgent was the release? Was there sufficient time to go out and warn the people in person about the water release (or was the dam right on the verge when the water was released?)

It is a terrible decision to have to make, especially at night. As for people not getting the warnings on television, the very same problem occurs even here in the USA. Nighttime warnings (even hurricane warnings) are not well received and acted upon at night (even I do not receive a warning very well at night and likely would not have acted upon a text message warning)

[quaqualita]

how urgent was the release? Was there sufficient time to go out and warn the people in person about the water release (or was the dam right on the verge when the water was released?)

It is a terrible decision to have to make, especially at night. As for people not getting the warnings on television, the very same problem occurs even here in the USA. Nighttime warnings (even hurricane warnings) are not well received and acted upon at night (even I do not receive a warning very well at night and likely would not have acted upon a text message warning)

http://www.dr1.com/#6
and http://www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyon ... -a-17.html and following pages.
http://www.dr1.com/forums/589084-post178.html
The dam was at its max levels days before Olga, they knew there is much more rain on the way, if they wouldn't have waited till the last second and started to release water earlier, the tragedy could have been prevented. Also, most people in the effected areas did not receive the warnings they say civil defense issued.

"We knew the damage we were going to cause below. We did not want to, but we had to," Rodriguez told The Associated Press. In light of the potential catastrophe of a dam collapse, he called the resulting death toll "acceptable."

The official death toll is now at 44, unofficial in the Hundreds.

[cycloneye]

Is very sad that the death toll keeps rising in the Dominican Republic.My prayers continue to go to all the people in that countrie.

[HURAKAN]

That's terrible. I went to Punta Cana in 2006 and traveled to Isla Saona, it's a beautiful country, much like my native country, Cuba.

It looks like at the end Olga could have been worse than Noel.

[HURAKAN]

Magnitude 4.2 - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
2007 December 14 00:18:48 UTC

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/rec ... hp#details

Nothing major but interesting nonetheless.

[JonathanBelles]

there has to be a link between TC's and EQ's. Very interesting.

[Category 5]

there has to be a link between TC's and EQ's. Very interesting.

It sure seems like it. I think it is something worth looking into.

[brunota2003]

there has to be a link between TC's and EQ's. Very interesting.

It sure seems like it. I think it is something worth looking into.

Maybe between the amount of energy released by Tropical Cyclones over or near land, between rain, wind, surge, mudslides, etc...they create energy waves in the upper portions of the soil, thus pushing any faults that are already overstressed over their limits, causing the earthquakes? All that energy has to go somewhere, it doesnt just vaporize.

It is 1:10 am, so anything I write, may or may not make sense...

[Chacor]

That's the what? 6th? 7th? time this year there's been an EQ/TC pair...

[quaqualita]

That's the what? 6th? 7th? time this year there's been an EQ/TC pair...

sorry, posted this also by accident as a new thread, was supossed to be a reply here:


while I'm not saying that there can't be any connection between stroms and EQs, maybe you should know earthquakes in the M2.5 - 4 range are very common here in the area. The image in the post above shows there are quite a few fault lines in the Dominican Republic, here a list of such 'mini' quakes happend only in November / December - most of those never make it to the USGS website:

Date / Time / lat / long / depth / magnitude
2007/11/01 01:16:15.86 18.457 -68.185 150.5 3.7
2007/11/02 18:11:10.55 19.552 -68.817 109.9 3.7
2007/11/03 02:57:38.70 19.778 -68.126 38.5 3.0
2007/11/03 04:41:32.64 19.392 -68.955 147.1 3.8
2007/11/03 21:58:31.28 19.782 -67.944 55.7 3.1
2007/11/05 05:51:40.15 18.110 -68.077 85.2 3.3
2007/11/06 22:10:01.53 19.867 -70.081 7.7 4.2
2007/11/07 03:41:07.84 18.840 -67.963 24.7 3.1
2007/11/08 01:00:20.91 18.417 -67.722 22.6 3.1
2007/11/08 08:19:58.90 18.895 -67.540 10.0 3.0
2007/11/08 23:17:34.11 18.062 -67.827 57.3 2.9
2007/11/11 01:45:40.63 18.585 -69.387 25.0 3.4
2007/11/12 08:00:18.22 19.144 -68.365 56.4 3.1
2007/11/12 09:04:36.87 19.748 -67.992 38.5 3.3
2007/11/12 22:23:00.88 17.848 -68.445 108.3 3.5
2007/11/14 13:58:38.88 20.970 -69.238 2.8 3.9
2007/11/14 17:24:26.92 18.108 -68.671 153.3 3.6
2007/11/14 17:25:50.32 18.432 -68.929 173.0 3.8
2007/11/16 14:52:59.66 18.154 -68.864 160.2 3.6
2007/11/18 11:52:44.69 19.787 -67.895 51.0 3.3
2007/11/18 12:52:06.58 19.524 -67.894 3.8 2.9
2007/11/18 19:59:42.48 19.028 -68.450 31.1 0 3.2
2007/11/20 02:24:44.06 19.534 -67.773 36.7 2.9
2007/11/20 05:22:50.52 18.264 -67.860 115.6 3.2
2007/11/21 04:39:53.26 18.381 -68.947 158.7 3.8
2007/11/23 13:14:17.32 18.547 -68.840 115.2 3.6
2007/11/27 00:50:28.57 18.327 -67.573 106.8 3.0
2007/12/01 00:11:04.96 18.943 -67.637 11.9 3.0
2007/12/02 22:15:02.08 18.007 -68.602 33.6 3.3
2007/12/03 11:12:00.37 17.949 -68.430 102.2 3.4
2007/12/08 09:39:41.29 19.047 -69.361 101.4 3.9
2007/12/08 16:14:53.94 19.003 -68.285 136.0 3.9
2007/12/09 07:20:08.40 19.689 -69.086 163.5 4.1
2007/12/11 21:48:42.13 20.006 -70.063 59.8 3.7

source: http://redsismica.uprm.edu/english/
search results for EQs in November and December 2007, magnitude 2.5 - 5, latitude 18-20 and longitude 68-70.

[Chacor]

Few stick out in my mind though. Sepat in Taiwan, Daman in Fiji and Flossie in Hawaii to name just three...

[Ptarmigan]

This is a sad situation for Dominican Republic. Sorry to hear that. 2007 was cruel for Dominican Republic.