• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 08 / 24 / 2011

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Santo Domingo, Aug 24 (Prensa Latina) More than 7,000 people remain evacuated in the Dominican Republic Wednesday, where intense rain was registered and there were settlements isolated, electricity cuts, fallen trees, destroyed houses and floods associated with Hurricane Irene. Hurricane Irene is slowly moving away from the Dominican northeastern coast while dozens of houses are flooded and 12 communities are isolated, said the Emergency Operation Center.

The Dominican capital and another 23 provinces are still on maximum alert, while classes are postponed in schools and universities and flights are cancelled at airports.

Hurricane Irene is a Category 2 in the five-degree Saffir-Simpson scale. It was located at 56 miles northeast of the Dominican coast at 11:00 hours, local time, moving towards the Turks and Caicos Islands, according to the US National Hurricane Center Tuesday.

In Haiti, the bands feeding Hurricane Irene are striking the Haitian territory with strong winds and rains. There are reports on coastal flooding, landslides and damages of dozens of houses.

As much as the gusts of wind and rains increase, the concern among the more than 580,000 damaged people living in fragile carps since they were affected by the January 2010 quake also increases.

Irene, the ninth tropical storm formed this year, is the first hurricane in the present hurricane season.

The others formed before were called Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert and Harvey.