12 December, 2007 - Published 21:37 GMT

Olga claims Dominican lives

Seven people were killed and thousands forced to flee their homes as sub tropical storm Olga swept over the Dominican Republic.

Olga triggered floods and landslides in the capital Santo Domingo, which was still recovering from the ravages of Tropical Storm Noel.

The provincial governor there said that at least seven towns were completely flooded.

The northern province of Santiago, where several people are unaccounted for, was the hardest hit.

Olga also claimed one life in neighbouring Puerto Rico.

The storm came as a surprise, nearly two weeks after the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season.

"One of the major problems is poverty, really. The people, especially the poor people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, live in very dangerous areas, near the banks of rivers.

"So when there is major flooding they are in a very dangerous situation," explained BBC Caribbean's correspondent in Santo Domingo, Jean Michel Caroit.

Warning

Heavy rains forced authorities to release water from a near capacity dam into the already swollen Yaque river.

People complained on local radio that they were not warned of the water release from the dam.

However the planning chief of the emergency operations centre, Ismael Matias, said local authorities had warned that a release was possible during the storm, but it was unclear whether the warnings were heeded or even relayed.

Officials admitted that the water release might have been responsible for some of the deaths.

"The Dominican Republic just went through a very serious storm, Noel, so the level of water everywhere and also the capacity of absorption of the land is near capacity.

"So it's not surprising that this new storm provoked this kind of action by the authorities," Jean Michel said.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In November, tropical storm Noel, described as the deadliest storm of the 2007 Atlantic Hurricane season, claimed at least 87 lives in the Dominican Republic.

According to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Olga is only the 10th named storm to develop in the month of December, since record keeping began in 1851.