Haiti, Dominican Republic warn of floods, landslides as Tropical Storm Franklin nears

SAN JUAN (AP):

Tropical Storm Franklin churned through the Caribbean Sea on Monday as authorities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic warned residents to prepare for landslides and heavy floods.

The storm was centred at midafternoon about 275 miles (445 kilometres) south of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. It had maximum sustained winds of 50mph (85kph). It was moving west at 4mph (6kph) but was forecast to make a sharp turn north late Monday or early Tuesday.

Franklin was expected to strengthen before making landfall late Tuesday in Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The storm is forecast to drop up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in both countries, with up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated areas. Heavy rainfall is of great concern to Haiti, where severe erosion in many places often leads to dangerous flooding. More than 40 people died in June following a day of heavy rain from a thunderstorm.

“The mudslide risk there is just awful,” said Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University, noting that a slow-moving storm poses great danger in Haiti given that it is so stripped of trees.

Several Haitians in the capital of Port-au-Prince told The Associated Press that they didn’t know a tropical storm was coming despite authorities posting warnings on social media.

Marie Christine Bonjour, 39, who sells used clothes, said she didn’t have any preparations in place.

“God is the only plan. He’ll look over me and my kids,” she said. “There is nothing I can do.”

The storm approached as more than 200,000 people in Haiti are displaced, having to stay with family or in makeshift shelters because warring gangs pillaged and set fire to their homes.

“I hope God will direct the storm in another direction,” said street vendor Anne Jean-Pierre, 45. “We can’t take any more.”

Jean-Pierre, who has moved twice already because of gang violence, said she would put her essential documents in a plastic bag because she lives in an area that floods easily.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the entire southern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. A tropical storm watch was iposted for the Turks and Caicos Islands.