Isaias unleashes flooding, landslides

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO » Tropical Storm Isaias battered Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on Thursday as it continued on a forecast track toward the U.S. East Coast. The storm unleashed small landslides and caused widespread flooding and power outages on an island still recovering from previous hurricanes and earthquakes.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds of 60 mph also toppled trees and some telephone and electrical cables across Puerto Rico.

Especially hard hit was the territory’s southern region, which still shakes daily. Santos Seda, mayor of the southwest coastal town of Guánica, told The Associated Press that he has received reports of downed trees and inundated neighborhoods where earthquake-damaged homes still stand.

“The emotional state of people is deteriorating more every day,” he said.

Isaias was centered about 85 miles southeast of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic early Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving northwest at 20 mph, and its center was forecast to move near the southeastern Bahamas by early Friday.

Isaias was already toppling trees in the Dominican Republic as government workers in some impoverished neighborhoods used loudspeakers to urge people to evacuate ahead of the worst of the storm. Police also arrested a handful of surfers in the capital of Santo Domingo accused of violating storm warnings.