Tropical Storm Odette drenches Dominican Republic
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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Reuters) -- Post-season Tropical Storm Odette drenched the Dominican Republic, toppling trees and power lines and forcing thousands of people out of their homes as it swept over the island of Hispaniola into the Atlantic Ocean, authorities said Sunday.
At least 11 people were injured in the southern Dominican Republic, most of them in auto accidents blamed on the storm, emergency officials said.
Odette dumped 5 to 10 inches of rain on the Dominican Republic, which shares Hispaniola with Haiti.
Thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas and several homes were damaged in the southern cities of Polo and Barahona. The storm felled trees and power lines, leaving some areas without electricity Sunday.
The storm formed in the Caribbean Sea Thursday, four days after the official end of the Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season. Its top sustained winds hit 65 mph as it approached Hispaniola Saturday.
The storm lost its circulating wind pattern and began to fall apart as it sped northeast into the cooler Atlantic waters. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami expected it to dissipate as it merged with a cold front in the next day or two.
At 10 a.m. EST, the scattered remains of the storm were about 150 miles east of Grand Turk Island, part of the British colony of Turks and Caicos, near latitude 21.3 north, longitude 68.8 west.
It still had top sustained winds of 45 mph but posed a threat only to boaters.
Odette also brought heavy rains to Jamaica during the weekend but no injuries were reported there.
Odette was the first tropical storm since records began in 1871 to form in the Caribbean in December, although tropical storms and hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic in December.
It was the 15th tropical storm or hurricane in the Atlantic-Caribbean region in 2003, making this year one of the busiest ever recorded.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
