REVIEW OF THE PAST HURRICANE SEASON

Reports of hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical disturbances and related flooding during 2014

Report of the Dominican Republic

(submitted by the Dominican Republic)

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

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RA IV HURRICANE COMMITTEE

THIRTY-SEVENTH SESSION

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA

13 TO 17 APRIL 2015

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5)(13.IV.2015)

ITEM 4.2

Original: SPANISH

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 2

IMPACT OF BERTHA ON THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Hurricane season 2014

1. - INTRODUCTION

There was little activity during the 2014 hurricane season in the Dominican Republic. The only impact was from tropical cyclone Bertha, which arrived as a tropical storm, becoming a hurricane over Atlantic waters, north of The Bahamas.

Bertha moved as a tropical storm across the eastern part of the country between 2 and 3 August 2014, producing the heaviest accumulated rainfall over the towns and villages of the eastern region.

Bertha hit the north-eastern region of Boca de Yuma at 7 p.m local time (23:00 UTC) on Saturday, 2 August, when it was located at latitude 18.5 north and longitude 68.7 west.

2.- USE OF ALERTS AND WARNINGS AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS OF BERTHA

Fig. 1.- The path of Hurricane Bertha across the centre of the Lesser Antilles, the eastern part of the Dominican Republic and the southern Bahamas.

2.1.- Alerts and warnings

At 8 a.m. local time on Friday, 1 August 2014, the National Meteorological Office, ONAMET, issued an early weather warning from Cabo Engaño to Samana, urging the inhabitants of towns and villages in the area concerned and the emergency services to be on the alert for further bulletins, as Bertha was situated about 175 km east/north-east of Barbados and some 375 km east/south-east of Martinique.

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 3

Fig. 2.- Bertha’s position at 8 a.m. on Friday, 1 August 2014

At 1 p.m on the same day, Friday, 1 August, ONAMET changed its alert to one of possible tropical storm conditions from Saona Island to Cabo Engaño in the South-east and East, and from Cabo Engaño to Cabo Francés Viejo to the North, as Bertha was some 120 km north-east of Barbados, moving west/north-west at around 33 kph, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kph.

Fig. 3.- Bertha’s position at 2 p.m. on Friday, 1 August

At 10 a.m. on Saturday, 2 August, Bertha was poorly defined and changed its course to a more westerly direction. Consequently, the Dominican Republic Meteorological Service, in coordination with the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre in Miami, had to change its alert to a warning of tropical storm conditions for the areas mentioned in the previous alerts; Bertha was then moving rapidly west/north-west at around 35 kph when it was some 175 km south of San Juan, Puerto Rico and some 295 km south-east of Saona Island, Dominican Republic.

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 4

Puerto Rico’s radar was showing moderate to intermittently heavy rain; however, numerical prediction models for expected rainfall in the Dominican Republic fluctuated between 25 and 75 mm, reaching a possible 150 mm in isolated areas, especially over the eastern provinces of the country.

Fig. 4.- Bertha’s position at 11 a.m. on Saturday, 2 August 2014

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, 2 August, with the warning of tropical storm conditions from Saona Island to Cabo Engaño and from Cabo Engaño to Cabo Francés Viejo still in force, the poorly defined centre of Bertha was located over the north-eastern region of Boca de Yuma (impact zone) in the South-east, moving west/north-west at around 35 kph, as winds diminished to around 75 kph. It should be noted that on the afternoon of the same day, a United States Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found no clear definition in its circulation, owing to the system’s interaction with the mountain areas of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 5

Fig. 5.- Bertha’s position near Boca de Yuma at 5 p.m. on Saturday, 2 August

At 1 a.m. on Sunday, 3 August, Bertha was very disorganized as it came extremely close to Puerto Plata, in the northern Dominican Republic. The warning remained in force, unchanged.

Finally, at 7 a.m. on Sunday, 3 August, the Dominican Republic Meteorological Service cancelled the tropical storm warning. However, local alerts and warnings of flooding and landslides remained in place for eastern provinces such as La Altagracia, El Seibo and Hato Mayor, and north-eastern provinces such as Samana, Duarte (especially those in Bajo Yuna), María Trinidad Sánchez and Monte Plata. Alerts and warnings of flooding in urban areas were also issued for eastern areas such as La Romana and San Pedro de Macorís, and the city of Santo Domingo in the South.

2.2.- Associated effects

The winds recorded in the Dominican Republic fluctuated between 10 and 22 kts (18 and 41 kph), reaching a maximum speed of 22 kts at Santiago Airport and 18 kts at La Romana.

The satellite image for 22:55 UTC (6.55 p.m local time) on Saturday, 2 August 2014 showed that the greatest thunderstorm activity, producing heavy rain, was concentrated over the coastal region, from Bani eastward to Cabo Engaño, and inland areas in the eastern parts of the Cibao Valley and the whole of the eastern region, where the heaviest rainfall occurred. It should be noted that this storm’s strongest convection was concentrated east and north-east of its centre.

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 6

Fig. 6.- Image of the infrared channel for 22:55 UTC on 2 August 2014

The highest accumulated rainfall occurred in the meteorological stations located in the East, the western area of the capital city, the Azua region, Barahona and the far north-west of the country, which recorded between 65 and 170 mm between 2 and 3 August. The map in Fig. 7 shows the distribution of rainfall in the Dominican Republic during the passage of Tropical Storm Bertha.

NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATOLOGY RAINFALL ON 22 AUGUST 2014

Map

RAINFALL (mm)

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Fig. 7.- Map showing the accumulated rainfall produced by Bertha between 2 and 3 August

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 7

2.3.- Damage reported by the Dominican Republic Emergency Operations Centre

Flooding on the Seibo River in El Seibo cut off the localities of Arroyo Grande and La Cuchilla;

Flooding on the Higuamo River in San Pedro de Macorís cut off the localities of Yerba Buena, Villita, las Claras and Capote and destroyed the bridge approaches and aqueduct pipes;

Flooding on the Magua River in San Pedro de Macorís cut off 938 people and 607 people respectively in the communities of Monte Coca and Las Pajas. It was reported that the river had flooded the bridge connection to the locality of Consuelo;

The localities of Lima, Campiña, Cabeza de Toro, Concho Primo, Atilano one and Atilano two were cut off by flooding on the Soco River in San Pedro de Macorís;

A total of 9,052 persons and 11 localities were cut off, and there was damage to one bridge and one aqueduct.

Fig. 8.- Map showing the levels of alerts issued by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and affected areas

Dominican Republic – Map of areas affected by Tropical Storm Bertha – 3 August 2014 Emergency operations centre (EOC)

Hato Mayor: Flooding on the Higuamo River cut off Yerba Buena, Villita, Las Claras and Capote, also destroying the bridge approaches and aqueduct pipes in the community of Yerba Buena.

El Seibo: Civil Defence reported flooding on the El Seibo River, cutting off localities of Arroyo Grande and La Cuchilla.

San Cristóbal: Civil Defence reported seven homes flooded in the Moscu district. Some ??(illegible) residents remained in their homes.

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 8

San Pedro de Macorís: Civil Defence reported Lima, Campiña, Cabeza de Toro, Concho Primo and Atilano one and two cut off when the Soco River flooded the La Base bridge.

Sto. Dgo: So far, reports of fallen trees in some areas.

Key Provinces on alert

Red alert Yellow alert Green alert

Remainder of text illegible.

3.- TROPICAL DISTURBANCE

On 20 August 2014, a broad, weak area of low pressure initially carried a 30 per cent probability of becoming a tropical cyclone. By 22 August, the chance that it would develop into a cyclone had increased to 50 per cent. It crossed the eastern and north-eastern regions of our country as a tropical disturbance generating precipitation and thunderstorms, moving in a north-easterly direction. The satellite pictures show the predominance of low cloud. After leaving the Dominican Republic, it turned into Tropical Storm Cristóbal in the south-eastern Bahamas in the early hours of Sunday, 24 August.

The exceptionally heavy rain broke historical records for torrential rainfall events, some examples of which are given below:

Hato Mayor (Eastern Region), 255.2 mm on 22 August 2014, broke the previous record of 237.3 mm on 31 August 1979, when the country was h`it by Hurricane David;

Peralta, Azua (Southern Region), 209 mm on 24 August 2014, breaking the existing record of 158.8 mm on 25 August 1988.

A series of maps of accumulated rainfall on 22, 23 and 24 August 2014 is reproduced below.

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 9

NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATOLOGY RAINFALL ON 22 AUGUST 2014

Map

RAINFALL (mm)

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Fig. 9.- Highest cumulative values in the East and North-east on 22 August 2014

NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATOLOGY RAINFALL ON 23 AUGUST 2014

RAINFALL (mm)

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Fig. 10.- Highest cumulative values in the East, South and North-west on 23 August 2014

RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 10

NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATOLOGY RAINFALL ON 24 AUGUST 2014

RAINFALL (mm)

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Fig. 11.- Accumulated rainfall on 24 August 2014. Lower levels can be seen, but the arrival of humidity from the Caribbean meant that the highest cumulative values were in the southern sector. A very isolated area of peak rainfall can be seen in the North-east.

The most significant cases of damage reported by the Dominican Republic Centre of Emergency Operations are listed below:

303 homes affected; 2,309 displaced persons staying with friends or family; 248 persons in official shelters; Three communities cut off; One hospital affected; 46 aqueduct systems affected; Damage to the agriculture and fishing sector in the provinces of Hato Mayor, El Seibo,

San Pedro de Macorís and Monte Plata; Other affected areas were mainly in Santo Domingo and the National District, where there

were reports of homes flooded.

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