24 lines
2.1 KiB
Text
24 lines
2.1 KiB
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AP880911-0016
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AP-NR-09-11-88 0423EDT r i
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BC-HurricaneGilbert 09-11 0339
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BC-Hurricane Gilbert,0348
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Hurricane Gilbert Heads Toward Dominican Coast
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By RUDDY GONZALEZ
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Associated Press Writer
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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)
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Hurricane Gilbert swept toward the Dominican Republic Sunday, and the Civil Defense alerted its heavily populated south coast to prepare for high winds, heavy rains and high seas.
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The storm was approaching from the southeast with sustained winds of 75 mph gusting to 92 mph.
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``There is no need for alarm,'' Civil Defense Director Eugenio Cabral said in a television alert shortly before midnight Saturday.
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Cabral said residents of the province of Barahona should closely follow Gilbert's movement.
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An estimated 100,000 people live in the province, including 70,000 in the city of Barahona, about 125 miles west of Santo Domingo.
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Tropical Storm Gilbert formed in the eastern Caribbean and strengthened into a hurricane Saturday night.
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The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported its position at 2 a.m. Sunday at latitude 16.1 north, longitude 67.5 west, about 140 miles south of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and 200 miles southeast of Santo Domingo.
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The National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said Gilbert was moving westward at 15 mph with a ``broad area of cloudiness and heavy weather'' rotating around the center of the storm.
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The weather service issued a flash flood watch for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands until at least 6 p.m. Sunday.
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Strong winds associated with the Gilbert brought coastal flooding, strong southeast winds and up to 12 feet feet to Puerto Rico's south coast.
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There were no reports of casualties.
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San Juan, on the north coast, had heavy rains and gusts Saturday, but they subsided during the night.
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On Saturday, Hurricane Florence was downgraded to a tropical storm and its remnants pushed inland from the U.S. Gulf Coast.
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Residents returned home, happy to find little damage from 80 mph winds and sheets of rain.
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Florence, the sixth named storm of the 1988 Atlantic storm season, was the second hurricane.
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The first, Debby, reached minimal hurricane strength briefly before hitting the Mexican coast last month.
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