Alert declared in 19 Dominican provinces due to storm Fiona

On yellow alert are Samaná, La Romana, El Seibo, San Cristóbal, San Pedro de Macorís, Barahona, La Altagracia, among others.

The Dominican Republic Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported this Friday that 19 provinces are on alert for tropical storm Fiona, and they expect it to strengthen in the coming days.

The entity specified that Samaná, La Romana, El Seibo, San Cristóbal, San Pedro de Macorís, Barahona, La Altagracia, María Trinidad Sánchez, Hato Mayor, Gran Santo Domingo, Peravia and Azua are on yellow alert.

In the green or minimum alert are the provinces of Duarte, Sánchez Ramírez, Monseñor Nouel, San José de Ocoa, San Juan, Monte Plata and La Vega.

The director of the COE, Juan Manuel Méndez, indicated that the atmospheric system constitutes the seventh tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic, and they estimate that it will cause heavy rains before leaving the Caribbean country next Tuesday.

In addition, they recommended to the Ministry of Education that teaching be suspended, from September 19 to 21, due to the effects that the tropical storm may cause.

For her part, the director of the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), Gloria Ceballos, stated that they expect "the center of Fiona to move through the Lesser Antilles tonight and early Saturday and pass near or just south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico from Saturday to Sunday.

At 7:00 p.m. (local time), the center of the storm was about 795 kilometers southeast of Saona Island, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour.

The day before, the Onamet declared an early warning indicating that, in the next few hours, strong winds, high waves and breakers, as well as heavy rains, may occur.

Likewise, they do not rule out the possibility of coastal flooding due to tidal waves in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.