Tropical storm’s toll on rise in Dominica

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Heavy rain and strong winds from tropical storm Erika began to bear down Friday on the Dominican Republic as authorities on the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica warned that the death toll would rise from mudslides and flooding unleashed by the system.

Authorities in Dominica had said at least four people were killed and about 20 were missing after Erika drenched the land and caused rivers to surge on the mountainous island.

But additional bodies have been recovered in the hard-hit southeast of the island, Police Chief Daniel Carbon said, declining to provide specifics. He predicted it would be another 24 hours at least before an official count would be released.

“There are additional bodies recovered but it is an ongoing operation,” Carbon said. “It will take us a couple of days to recover as many bodies as we can. So the count will increase.”

Erika is a particularly wet storm, and was expected to dump up to 20 centimetres of rain across the drought-stricken northern Caribbean as it headed toward the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas and the U.S.

Forecasters no longer expected it would strike Florida as a hurricane but still considered it likely that it would reach the state as a tropical storm starting late Sunday, said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was also considered possible that the storm would dissipate as it passes over the mountains of Hispaniola, the island that includes the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

“It is unlikely at this point to become a hurricane,” Landsea said. “The main threat will be rainfall. You’ve seen some horrific rainfall in the Caribbean with what happened in Dominica.”

Erika was located about 95 kilometres south-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and was moving west near 30 kilometres an hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 85 km/h.

Erika was expected to affect the popular tourist areas of Punta Cana, Samana and Puerto Plata, as well as the capital of Santo Domingo.

Erika previously slid to the south of Puerto Rico, knocking out power to more than 200,000 people but causing no major damage or injuries.