Barnes1

Sarah Barnes

Mr. Phillips

English 3

28 November 2017

Hurricanes in the Dominican Republic.

Beautiful beaches, clear water, national parks, golf and country clubs all in the Dominican

Republic that make it a beautiful to live and also visit when there isn't a hurricane. Haiti shares

part of the island with the Dominican Republic called Hispaniola. Located in the Caribbean, the

Dominican Republic is well known for its beaches, resorts and golfing. However, due to its

location, hurricanes and severe storms are a constant threat that affects the Dominican

Republic. Native people of the island long ago called the fierce tropical storms hurakans,

which comes from the Inca word for the God of Evil. 570 houses have been damaged and over

600,000 people living without water and electricity, these damages have been due to heavy

storms and hurricanes in the Dominican Republic.

When hurricanes hit the Dominican Republic over and over again it starts to worry people

about living there. Hurricanes have the potential to cause a great amount of damage because

many structures in the rural and poor areas are not very well constructed. Witnesses say that

they are very scared and do not know what to do now since all of their belongings are

destroyed. Hurricanes also have negative impacts on crops and livestock that affect the
 Barnes2

residents of the island. A number of financial issues also face the island as its the largest

municipal debt crisis in us history(Watson). due to the impact of multiple hurricanes Leon

Watson says.

Hurricanes in the Dominican Republic cause a lot of deaths, injuries as well as emotional and

physical damages on the island. In the late morning of October 28th, 2007 a hurricane named

Noel started to make way to the Dominican Republic. A image captured a dense circle of

clouds heading south towards Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The community starts to

prepare for the hurricane as they stock up on food and water, board up their windows with

pieces of wood, and making a safe place in their house just in case there was an impact. As

soon as the community and the island finish their preparations for the hurricane it hits.

Unfortunately, another storm, Olga came right after Noel. It destroyed homes and crops,

flooded rivers and made and already bad situation from the first storm even worse. Tad Palec,

A UNICEF representative said Many of these people were quite poor already, and if they lost

what little they had, theyve lost their livelihood.(Palec). These are people and families that

are going to need a lot of support over the next few months(Palec). Having two storms hit the

island so close in time had terrible consequences, affecting over 61,000 people.

In 2017, the category five hurricane Maria hit the island late on a Monday, cutting off

communications and leaving the rest of the world in the dark about the aftermath of the

island Yoliya Talmazan said. The hurricane reached a maximum of 174 mph and was the tenth
 Barnes3

most intense hurricane on record. The hurricane was so bad that the general hospital on the

island took a major beating making it hard for the injured to get help. A writer tells us the

streets were strewn with broken balconies, air conditioning units, shattered lamp post, fallen

power lines and dead birds this has left people with no electricity. The aftermath of Maria left

people with 110 destroyed homes and damaged over 570 homes which has left 600,000 people

without water and 6,000 people without electricity. Maria also killed 85 people and 48 people

went missing. This was a devastating storm that the people of the Dominican Republic dont

want to experience again.

Hurricanes also have devastating effects on the environment in the Dominican Republic . These

include degradation of land and crops that then can lead to and increase the severity of

flooding from these storms. There are also risks to surface and ground water supplies that can

become contaminated by damage to infrastructure on the island. The effects of hurricanes may

be worse because of existing problems on the island. A report by the UN coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs stated that in the Dominican Republic, poor watershed management

leads to increased soil erosion and increases flooding. Surface, ground and coastal water are

degraded by poor watershed management and agricultural run-off, and there is an overall lack

of solid waste management. The environmental effects of hurricanes then can have a bad

impact on human welfare and getting humanitarian response efforts.

 Barnes4

Since the Dominican Republic lies in the hurricane corridor, it is likely that this region will

continue to be impacted by hurricanes in the future. Hurricanes may be worse by the possible

increase in the occurrence and severity of extreme events due to climate change. People are

not sure about how climate change will impact the number of hurricanes, but models generally

show that warmer water would cause hurricanes that are stronger. This would lead to stronger

winds and more rainfall for storms. Stronger hurricanes would add to the loss of human lives,

contribute to increases in soil erosion and the destruction of island infrastructure, crops and

livestock. It is hopeful that this will not happen, because it is clear from history that hurricanes

have had a devastating effect on the lives and environment of the people of the Dominican

Republic.
 Barnes5

Works Cited

Chevigny, Blue., and Michael Kavanagh. Tropical storm Olga and hurricane Noel displace 61,000 in

Dominican Republic unicef.org. Unicef.org, 19 Dec. 2007 Web. 16 Nov. 2017

Palec, Tad,. Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne in Hati, Grenada and the Dominican Republic relieweb.int.

Relieweb 27 Oct. 2004 Web. 14 Nov. 2017

Reaters,. Hurricane Maria slams the Dominican Republic after making direct hit on Puerto Rico

fortune.com. Fortune, 21 Sep. 2017 Web. 16 Nov. 2017

Schmaltz, Jeff. Tropical storm Noel earthobservatory.nasa.gov. Earthobservatory, 1 Nov. 2017 Web. 14

Nov. 2017

Talmazan, Yoliya. Dominica aerial pictures show total destruction nbcnews.org. NBCNews,

20 Sep. 2017 Web. 11 Nov. 2017

Watson, Leon. Storm lashes Dominican Republic after Puerto Rico is obliterated telegraph.co.

telegraph, 21 Sep. 2017 Web. 14 Nov. 2017