30+ dead and 25,000 evacuated from Dominican Republic from 'Noel'

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Deadly Tropical Storm Noel picks up pace on path to Bahamas - CNN.com





(CNN) -- Tropical Storm Noel lumbered toward the northern Bahamas on Thursday, leaving a deadly trail of mudslides and floods in its wake in the Caribbean.
Streets remain flooded Wednesday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.







var CNN_ArticleChanger = new CNN_imageChanger('cnnImgChngr','/2007/WORLD/weather/11/01/tropical.storm/imgChng/p1-0.init.exclude.html',1,1);//CNN.imageChanger.load('cnnImgChngr','imgChng/p1-0.exclude.html');The storm is forecast to wallop the Bahamas with a torrential downpour of rain and tropical storm-force winds.
Forecasters said the storm could approach hurricane strength as it continues north toward the cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
The storm has killed dozens of people in the Caribbean, mostly in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
With top winds at 60 mph (95 kph), Noel was expected to pass just west of the Bahamian capital, Nassau, later Thursday, according to National Hurricane Center forecasters.
Parts of the northwestern Bahamas were under a hurricane watch, meaning hurricane conditions were possible within the next 36 hours.
A 95-mile stretch of South Florida -- including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach -- was under a tropical storm warning Thursday. The hurricane center said the warning likely would be lifted Thursday afternoon.
Strong waves from the storm were hitting southern Florida, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said.
"Although it is not expected at this point to make landfall in Florida, it will come fairly close," Wolf said. "[There's] a lot of wave action down the coast, and showers are picking up anywhere from 2 to 4 inches."

At 11 a.m. ET, Noel's center was about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Nassau and 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Miami. The storm had picked up some speed, traveling north-northeast at 9 mph (15 kph) -- up from 6 mph -- and is expected to continue at a faster pace over the next day, forecasters said.
"The center of Noel will be moving through the northwestern Bahamas today and slowly increasing its distance from the Florida coast," the hurricane center said in its latest advisory.
The storm has slightly decreased in size, with tropical storm-force winds extending outward up to 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the storm's center.
Noel has triggered deadly flooding and landslides in Cuba and on Hispaniola, the island Haiti and the Dominican Republic share, forcing 37,500 residents from their homes.
The Dominican Republic's Center for Emergency Operations reported 30 deaths, 15 injuries and at least 25,000 evacuations.
Pointing to a deluged area, one resident said: "All that area ... was a town that disappeared."
Another resident said, "Absolutely nothing was left here because God took everything."
The Dominican Republic government on Wednesday arranged for $200 million in emergency aid for the disaster-struck areas. The money will be used chiefly to finance the construction of temporary homes and the repair of damaged buildings and houses, a press statement said.
In Haiti, devastating floods and mudslides have ravaged the area and left 34 people dead, World Vision aid worker Elvire Douglas said in a phone call from Port-au-Prince.
More than 9,000 people have sought refuge in shelters after nearly 2,000 homes were damaged and 745 others were destroyed, Douglas said.
"We still have 14 people missing, and I saw some families searching for their loved ones and still don't know where they are," she said.
Cuban civil defense officials said about 9,000 people had been evacuated from the island's eastern part, where the storm hit hardest. The Cuban government has canceled its tropical storm warning.





Noel was expected to dump up to 10 inches of rain over the Bahamas, with isolated amounts of up to 15 inches in some areas. An additional 2 to 4 inches was forecast to fall on eastern Cuba and Hispaniola, the hurricane center said. One to 2 inches is possible over portions of South Florida.
Noel, the 14th named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, began gathering strength Sunday in the Caribbean