SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (AP) – Tropical Storm Franklin made landfall yesterday on the island of Hispaniola shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, bringing fears it would trigger deadly landslides and heavy flooding in both countries.
Franklin was expected to swirl above the island for most of the day, with forecasters warning the storm could dump up to 10 inches of rain, with a maximum of 15 inches for the central region of Hispaniola.
Yesterday morning, the storm was centered about 105 miles west-southwest of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, according to the National Hurricane Centre in Miami.
It had maximum winds of 50 miles per hour (mph) with higher gusts and was moving northward at 10mph.
It made landfall along the country’s southern coast near Bahahona.
Emergency operations officials said they were looking for a 54-year-old man with mental health problems who went missing after he jumped into a creek late on Tuesday.
In the Caribbean, officials were most concerned about Franklin’s impact in Haiti, which is vulnerable to catastrophic flooding given the country’s severe erosion.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry had urged Haitians on Tuesday to stock up on water, food and medication as authorities checked on some of the more than 200,000 people displaced by gang violence, with some living on the street or in makeshift shelters.
In the Dominican Republic, officials shuttered schools, government agencies and several airports with at least 24 of the country’s 31 provinces under red alert.
By early yesterday, more than 40 aqueducts were out of service because of heavy rains, affecting more than 830,000 customers.
Franklin is the seventh named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. On August 10, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration updated its forecast and warned that this year’s hurricane season would be above normal.
