The MOPC reported that due to the accumulation of water from the rivers that cross the Juan Pablo II or Northeast highway, in the Chirino-Mella highway elevated section, it decided to close traffic on that road, at kilometer 16, until the obstacle could be resolved.
SANTO DOMINGO- As it passed through the country, Tropical Storm Franklin left two dead, damaged 678 homes, caused the closure of a section of the Northeast Highway due to flooding, a landslide on the Ocoa highway, and displaced more than 4,000 people.
Two homes were partially destroyed and three were completely destroyed by a landslide in Cambita Garabito and another in Hatillo, in the province of San Cristóbal, due to the collapse of a wall.
The passage of the atmospheric phenomenon also prompted the mobilization of 3,390 people to safe areas, and another 89 to shelters.
General Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the COE, said yesterday that the three people, two dead and one missing, were the result of citizen recklessness and negligence that escaped the emergency measures taken by the relief agencies.
The victims were identified as a fifteen-year-old boy, who jumped into a river with five other friends during the rain and was unable to get out, unlike the other members of the group.
The other is Carlos Marino Martínez, from San Cristóbal, who was swept away by the floodwaters of a ravine while trying to cross it last Wednesday.
On the other hand, Méndez assured that they are still searching for the body of a 54-year-old man, who is said to have mental health problems and jumped into the well-known Guajimía ravine in Santo Domingo Oeste on Tuesday.
Roads
The Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) reported that they were still evaluating the incidents that occurred yesterday; but highlighted that 700 meters before the Las Yayas Crossing, in Azua, a sinkhole appeared, although traffic was being maintained with caution.
However, there are reports that the constant rains brought by Tropical Storm Franklin on Wednesday afternoon caused a landslide on the highway leading to the province of San José de Ocoa, leaving only one lane open in that section. The landslide occurred at kilometer 5, at the intersection known as La Paloma.
Yesterday, the MOPC reported that due to the accumulation of water from the rivers that cross the Juan Pablo II or Northeast Highway, in the Chirino-Mella elevated road section, it has decided to close traffic on that road, at kilometer 16, until the obstacle can be resolved.
A press release from the agency states that while the problem is being resolved, it has arranged for vehicles traveling towards Samaná to take the route via the Guerra-Bayaguana-Bayaguana-Monte Plata intersection road.
Likewise, vehicles traveling in a North-South direction, that is, from Samaná towards Las Américas, must turn left at the Monte Plata Crossing, via Bayaguana-Guerra until the intersection with the Mella highway.
The MOPC highlights that, in the community of Chirino, in the province of Monte Plata, the Marucho and Caño Nuevo streams, which are tributaries of the Ozama River, as well as the Yabacao, whose channels received large amounts of rain from the Franklin storm caused them to overflow and occupy the roadway.
