Subtropical Storm OLGA was Late Season Tropical Depression 94

[Hillbilly]

I would say that we are closer to 100 than 50....

Sorry to say.

HB

[Hillbilly]

Here is another slap in the face.

i was just watching Portafolio Extra, one of those commentary shows, and the host, Guillermo Saleta, happens to be one of the more reputable personalities on local tV.

they were talking about whether or not people were, in reality, warned to get out of the flood areas.
Guillermo happens to live in Bella Vista, one of the most affected areas, in fact the waters came close to his house...often seen in wide angle shots..
He said that he never saw anybody, soldiers or Civil Defense people working before the floods came.

His co-host, Fausto Abreu, said that Civil Defense called local barrio committees and told them to get people out...that was the extent of their experience.

As for megaphones, I have not been able to collaborate that information, so far.

HB

[dms3611]

...that the "civil service" could not have gotten out the fire department trucks from all over the city with their sirens to sound warnings all through the affected areas. How is it that the siren (could easily add more all over STI for not much cost) they use in Santiago to "bring in" the 12 noon "lunchtime" could not be used as an alert/warning system.

These politicos and civil servants can SPIN all they want but this was absolutely avoidable...maybe not the loss of property BUT DEFINITELY the loss of life. Unforgivable. Shame on them!

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by Hillbilly

Here is another slap in the face.

i was just watching Portafolio Extra, one of those commentary shows, and the host, Guillermo Saleta, happens to be one of the more reputable personalities on local tV.

they were talking about whether or not people were, in reality, warned to get out of the flood areas.
Guillermo happens to live in Bella Vista, one of the most affected areas, in fact the waters came close to his house...often seen in wide angle shots..
He said that he never saw anybody, soldiers or Civil Defense people working before the floods came.

His co-host, Fausto Abreu, said that Civil Defense called local barrio committees and told them to get people out...that was the extent of their experience.

As for megaphones, I have not been able to collaborate that information, so far.

HB

If the residents had been warned why were they running away from the oncoming water as in this picture in Hoy?
Bienvenidos al Hoy Digital

This sounds like classic buck passing in my humble opinion. Héctor Rodríguez Pimentel, director of INDRHI (that's him here in the video on Listin
Tormenta Olga - RodrÃ*guez Pimentel afirma que lluvias influyeron más en inundaciones que desagüe de presa Tavera
says 'luckily, they warned COE' (as in my earlier post), COE says they called barrio committees. So who do barrio committees push the blame to?

According to INDRHI's website it wasn't INDRHI alone who made the decision to open the dam - it was a committee of INDRHI, CDEEEE, Defensa Civil, Meteorología, CAASD, CORASAN, Centro de Operaciones Emergencia and Fuerzas Armadas.
Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos -INDRHI-
So as well as spreading blame downwards are they also spreading it outwards?

Maybe we should all contact INDRHI? Av. Jiménez Moya, Centro de los Héroes, SD. Telef. 809-532-3271 - Fax. 809-534-5913 Email addresses
WebMaster@indrhi.gov.do & dguerra@indrhi.gov.do according to the website.

For the technically minded Presa de Tavera tech data is here, below the pic - I assume 'Capacidad vertedor' is for each one & there are 6.
PRESA DE TAVERA

[Lambada]

CODIA is going to investigate if the dam management etc was adequate
Bienvenidos al Hoy Digital

[Berzin]

This is truly sad. Is there any information in terms of where DR1 members going to the DR soon can drop off supplies and what is needed the most?

[pyratt]

In 23 years of providing rescue and recovery services to third world countries and migrant people all over the world...I've never been stone walled by a more corrupt and unfeeling government.

Donated supplies from TS NOEL disappeared before ever making it to the barrios and campos. Money donated from other countries was STOLEN by the very DR governmental moochers who extended their hands like the poor in the streets of the DR. They gave the hungry........ rice and oatmeal, but no fresh water or a means to cook it.

And now, they lie again.....claiming to have warned the people.

Serious questions were asked of General Luna after TS Noel. He walked away from the microphone instead of those answering questions. The DR government has NO PLANS for any emergency, no budget for relief after an emergency and no desire to develop one. Their lack of action speaks louder than any words...

TWICE this year....Government officials have left the country's poor to the devices of Mother Nature in hopes she will wash away the country's burden of the destitute....and have done so while claiming to have "under estimated" the strength of two storms even though their access to modern day forecasting is only a click away.

(yes, I know..Dominican weather people don't work on Sundays)

If in fact you live in the DR, I urge you to prepare yourselves....to "get a plan", to secure your home, store emergency food and water and know exactly what you are going to do when the real storm comes....perhaps the DR1 group can get together and provide "shelter" for each other depending on where you live on the island....in othe words, have safe shelter in different areas with DR1 friends.

This year's storm tracks took the majority of every tropical system within striking distance of the DR, most became Category 3 or higher systems. The TWO storms that devasted parts of the island were "nothing". I say this being a survivor of two CAT 5 storms, a CAT4 and numerous CAT1 hurricanes...I was deployed to New Orleans and Mississippi post Katrina. Bloated bodies, starving and scared aggressive dogs....the stench and the sights some of the worst I've ever seen.

The day the DR is hit by a real hurricane, life in the island's affected areas will be surreal and seeing the government's inabilty and lack of desire to respond after this season should bode well as a warning as to their plans for the "big one"....it's not a matter of IF, it's only a matter of WHEN.

[Hillbilly]

For the first time I saw a video of a Red Cross worker in one of the flooded barrios working with people during the night of the floods....but the floods were already there, so that sort of precludes any or much advance warning.

Silvio Carrasco, a former boss at INDRHI, has been veryexplicit as to the law regarding the handling of Tavera. The FINAL word is with CDEEE. IF the people at Indrhi opened the gates they did it under CDEEE directives or they did it illegally....

The manual for handling the dam is explicit: 800 cm/s (cubic meters per second) is the maximum that will not flood Santiago.

They know if this were to occur (the need to spill 800 cm/s) there will be flooding downstream, no matter what.

Today, thanks to this ineptitude, Mao is completely cut off from the rest of the country. Amina bridge is down, the Junquito bridge (built after David) is out. The main water pipe that supplies the Linea Noroeste is out. If you have to go to Mao, you go up to El Rubio and Moncion and then come down the back road.

The flood waters are now in Guayubín and reaching Castañuelas....Hundreds of thousands of tareas (Dominican measure of land = 629 sq. mt./ 15.9 tareas = 1 hectare) of good farmlands are under water...

The FAt Lady has yet to sing!!

HB

[bob saunders]

It is certain that the government hasn't carried out their functions correctly in response to both pre and after emergency preparation, however is it not true that the people hold some responsibility also. After Hurricane Georges, and probably after David...etc the Government built houses away from the floodplains. People lived in them for a while, sold them, and moved back to the floodplains. The first time I was in Jarabacoa was 1997, just before Georges and I noticed how many people lived close to the river. The next time I was there was about 2 months after Georges and all those houses had been wiped out. The government, Leonels first term built a bunch of house away from the river, but 3 years later there were more house built close to the river. I grew up next to river that flooded on a regular basis and smart people don't build in floodplains. I'm sure the government warnings were inadequate and late, but personal responsibility for families seems to be missing here also.

[dms3611]

".........and smart people don't build in floodplains".

Yes Bob, you are right......but the poor (financially), the desperate, and the displaced do build there.