Tropical Storm Noel

[Chirimoya]

Originally Posted by lucky1234

I checked theweathernetwork.com a couple days ago before booking my trip for Nov 4 to punta cana/bavaro today. It said light rain and forecasting every day in the 30's and now that the trip is booked I looked for a more detailed forecast and I come across this site and I cannot believe what I am reading. Is it likely that the rain will continue to move north west like the reports say and I will be okay for the trip? What are the chances the beach resort I am going to (Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana) will have major damage to the beach? Will they have power back on? Will the road be open to get there?

I am frantically looking for some reassurace I will not have spent $3k to fly down and sit in a hotel room in the dark!

Thank you,

Relax, the storm will be long gone by then, the sun will be shining and you will have the holiday of your dreams. Punta Cana got rained on but I haven't heard any reports of serious damage. The south/south west and centre of the island appear to have suffered the worst effects of Noel.

[juanita]

Wind and rain are on again...darn...the energy will probably be out soon...

[juanita]

yapp...just as I thought...light just went off and wind is getting stronger, maybe Noel turned around?

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by juanita

yapp...just as I thought...light just went off and wind is getting stronger, maybe Noel turned around?

From the Sat pix I'm looking at, I would say that it's the storm's last hurrah, the tail end, then it's all over.
I'm expecting sunshine here on the North coast by noon tomorrow.

[emee34]

Hi everyone -
I'm in the US and my husband and two brothers-in-law are in Higuey; the rest of the family is in Moca. Can anyone tell me how things are there? I can't get through by phone (no surprise). Any info is sincerely appreciated. Hope you're all safe and as dry as possible.

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by emee34

Hi everyone -
I'm in the US and my husband and two brothers-in-law are in Higuey; the rest of the family is in Moca. Can anyone tell me how things are there? I can't get through by phone (no surprise). Any info is sincerely appreciated. Hope you're all safe and as dry as possible.

Apparently they are without electricity, but less affected by the storm than the coastal areas.
I do believe it will all be over in the next 12 hours.

[emee34]

Originally Posted by Rocky

Apparently they are without electricity, but less affected by the storm than the coastal areas.
I do believe it will all be over in the next 12 hours.

Thanks, Rocky!

[La Mariposa]

Originally Posted by emee34

Hi everyone -
I'm in the US and my husband and two brothers-in-law are in Higuey; the rest of the family is in Moca. Can anyone tell me how things are there? I can't get through by phone (no surprise). Any info is sincerely appreciated. Hope you're all safe and as dry as possible.

Higuey seems allright. Have a look at post 93 from rubio higuey. He lives in Higuey.

[Chip]

I was watching the news reports and the flood water looked pretty devasting. Before anybody says, only in the DR, even in the US most highways are only designed for the a storm event that would happen once every 50 years, which works out to be around 10 inches or so for Florida. What that means is that anytime there is a rainfall event that is close to 20 inches or so, it will wreak havoc just about anywhere in the world, including the US.

Also, 99% of the communities in the US were developed before flood maps were available so we are really not a whole lot different than the Dominicans. Yes, we can handle the small rain events better, but for the bigger ones we are in pretty much the same boat. If anybody remembers the midwest storms of the mid 90's they wil recall that they were as devastating as they come.

[Lambada]

emee34, you were asking about Moca also. Some info here:
Bienvenidos al Hoy Digital
Hoy says 600 homes flooded, tens of people disappeared, 1000 families affected, agricultural losses due to river rising including loss of lots of hens and baby chicks. Diario Libre says 1500 homes damaged in Moca
Noticias - Cibao: Siete muertos y trece desaparecidos
There are pics on both links.

Names of some of deceased here for those who want to check
El paÃ*s bajo lluvia - Noel deja 11 muertos según el conteo oficial

Papers reporting that water being released from the dams in a controlled fashion - some discussion on TV tonight that this would have been better done in the daylight than in the dark.

Question for moderator - would it be better to have a separate thread for tourists asking about future holiday weather? It's just that when there are relatives from outside DR seeking info about communities & family members about whom they have real concerns, they may feel that the questions about future holiday weather are, well, a little insensitive............?