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Santo Domingo - Two rivers have burst their banks and swept away a Dominican Republic village, taking the death toll from Tropical Storm Noel's downpours on the Caribbean country and neighbouring Haiti above 90.
Local politicians and residents said the El Duey and Haina rivers swelled after days of rain and drowned at least 25 people, left 50 to 100 missing and made dozens of families homeless in Villa Altagracia, about 42km outside the capital, Santo Domingo.
Survivors said most of the 200 houses were swept away. "There were a lot of dead," said Luis Melo.
Dominican lawmaker Marino Mendoza said he had seen between 25 and 30 bodies strewn on the banks of the rivers.
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez declared a national emergency. The country's official toll rose to 56 deaths with 27 missing, as rescue teams reached villages cut off by raging rivers and inundated by chest-high floods. Unofficial reports put the dead much higher.
A least 25,540 people were homeless and 6300 homes had been destroyed, said Luis Luna Paulino, head of the Dominican Republic's emergency operations. He appealed to boat owners to help rescue people trapped in cut-off villages.
Several bridges had collapsed, mudslides blocked roads and at least 39 communities were cut off by floods, he said.
Noel strengthened a little over water after emerging off Cuba's northern shore, but was not expected to become a hurricane as it headed for the Bahamas, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Forecasters projected the 14th named storm of the 2007 Atlantic storm season would veer northeast over the Bahamas tomorrow, away from Florida and well clear of US oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico.
But a storm watch was issued for parts of the southeast Florida coast as the storm's interaction with a high pressure zone over the eastern United States kicked up a fierce surf and brought strong winds and whipping rains to the peninsula.
Thousands of people were evacuated from vulnerable areas but no casualties were reported in Cuba, which boasts one of the most effective civil protection operations in the region.
The storm dumped 15cm of rain in just six hours over Baracoa in Cuba, causing floods and cutting off roads at the already waterlogged eastern tip of the island.
"We are getting a constant downpour and strong gusts of wind. The sea is very rough," said Hector Rodriguez, a hotel worker in Cayo Coco, an island resort on the north coast of central Cuba.
In Haiti, the most vulnerable of Caribbean countries to flash floods and mudslides because most of its trees have been chopped down to make charcoal, at least 24 people died, said national Civil Protection Office Director Alta Jean-Baptiste.
About 3400 people were staying in emergency shelters and around 400 houses had been destroyed.
In Jamaica, one person died when a house collapsed in the heavy rain, the disaster preparedness agency said.
- REUTERS
