- Thread starter ju10prd
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Rain, Rain and More Rain
I seriously doubt problems with the Autopista and buses from the city are running as usual to San Cristobel and Pelenque along Independencia today using the old road.
Even the slip road at San Cristobel, washed in part away by the Rio Yubazo, is reported open.
However San Cristobel province is still on red alert and a glance westwards now sees dark menacing clouds and rumbles of thunder. And for just about every day, rainfall of over 100mm and more has been recorded in the province for two weeks now so rivers are flowing full throttle. Yesterday 103.6mm and 112mm. https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...a-region-sur-informa-obras-publicas-KG6976963
Just keep checking but I would very much doubt any problems getting to Bani this weekend however much rain we get.
We have had the mid 80's in April. (that would be the 20 to 30 range in Celsius). FYI we are 900 miles (1448km) from the south border of the Arctic Circle. Not exactly next door.
My Dominican neighbor sent me a video of the roads in Uvero Alto. The water was about 30" (76cm) deep in front of the Excellence Hotel. And we are one of the areas that the government says is ok. I am not looking forward to seeing the damage when we get back.
There were pictures in Diario Libre yesterday of people using inflated boats and canoes in flooded areas of Uvero Alto/Macao.
Areas of the East Coast got most rain yesterday....see rainfall accumulations yesterday.. Punta Cana airport got nearly twice April monthly average in just one day.
http://www.onamet.gov.do/?param=mapas-hidro
http://www.onamet.gov.do/?param=lluvias-acumuladas
This rainfall since Easter Sunday has moved all around the country with daily rainfall exceeding monthly totals in parts for days on end. Poor San Cristobel province still getting hit.
Folks up in the North Coast may be happy to see other areas getting hit like they were in November and March. Three times of prolonged heavy rainfall in six months with non tropical systems is anything but usual. Thank you La Nina!
Any insight on how the Punta Cana area looks for the next week? Selfishly I ask because I am flying down from Boston to get married. i come in this Thursday and get married Monday. I did as much homework as I could on Wunderground and weather.com but it seems like this forum has much better insight as to what I should expect. The sites seem like it's fine, the webcams look good, however the news pictures of PUJ and other surrounding areas say otherwise. I appreciate the help!
This prolonged period of at times very heavy rainfall is so unseasonal so don't despair.
According to ONAMET the DR weather service the conditions that have brought about this weather will diminish tomorrow:
http://www.onamet.gov.do/?param=pronostico-general
You should be able to translate using Google and keep checking this website for updates.
Just got my gas bill for Kamloops BC, this April was 3 degrees Celsius cooler than a year ago on average over a 33 day period.
Two things normally close the autopista...
Mudslides and flooding near the #2 toll booth.
The bridge near #2 can be very flooded although they have worked on improvements.
It was water covered last Wednesday, my friend said,,,, who passed over it
Not deep but covered
Unfortunately this important road was poorly designed and constructed but still came in at a very high price. (see DR1 News story today).
The whole of the road between toll booth #2 and the Monte Plata turn is substandard imo and the drainage is substandard/cheap ditching resulting to subgrade water saturation and pavement failures. Some are being made repaired as and when they occur (with sub temperature as laid asphalt so that breaks up after a short period).....one currently dug up section exists. But the worrying sign as seen in the wet is that there are ruts in the pavement in the normal tire tracks are ponding water and this tells you the design and/or construction is shoddy for a road which should have had many millions more axel loads passing over before this type of depression. In contract the section after the last toll booth passing through rice country and over the Yuna is in good nick, albeit the Yuna was in full flood and I read yesterday that Danilo in a visit Monday commented that the lower Yuna is silted up and needs dredging to improve flows in periods of flood.
And yes Sunday was not the first time I've seen the road flooded albeit very shallow water crossing the highway from one side to the other.
Passing topical depressions and storms are one thing but so many accumulated heavy rainfall days has taken its toll in the last six months on infrastructure everywhere. How do civil engineering designers design for this? Designing for a one in a fifty or hundred year storm is one thing but when it continues for weeks on end the design manuals don't deal with that nor does the saturated ground. And it is remarkable that for a country that has seen its fair share of tropical storms over the years with acute heavy rainfall during the storms passing, that it has taken three prolonged periods of heavy unseasonal rain in November, March and now to cause so much damage to infrastructure that survived for so long.
River Aggregate Extraction and the Rains
One thing every engineer with knowledge of hydrology will know is that river courses and channels need maintenance to maximize flows.
Yep it is common practice to dredge river channels for more than just navigation purposes and these rain and floods in DR highlight a failure to help mother nature.
Yesterday the President noted on a visit to the lower Yuna that the river had silted up and needed dredging. Today we get this video showing removal of gravels from the Rio Yubazo in San Cristobel to deepen the channels.
[video=youtube_share;GNcy0KWi5cU]https://youtu.be/GNcy0KWi5cU[/video]
http://noticiassin.com/2017/05/mora...slados-nuevamente-por-el-temporal-de-lluvias/
Simple solution is to regulate aggregate extraction from rivers to places to deepen the channels to where it suits the environment without endangering river structures. River aggregate extraction if controlled should be a win, win, win, situation
One thing every engineer with knowledge of hydrology will know is that river courses and channels need maintenance to maximize flows.
Yep it is common practice to dredge river channels for more than just navigation purposes and these rain and floods in DR highlight a failure to help mother nature.
Yesterday the President noted on a visit to the lower Yuna that the river had silted up and needed dredging. Today we get this video showing removal of gravels from the Rio Yubazo in San Cristobel to deepen the channels.
[video=youtube_share;GNcy0KWi5cU]https://youtu.be/GNcy0KWi5cU[/video]
http://noticiassin.com/2017/05/mora...slados-nuevamente-por-el-temporal-de-lluvias/
Simple solution is to regulate aggregate extraction from rivers to places to deepen the channels to where it suits the environment without endangering river structures. River aggregate extraction if controlled should be a win, win, win, situation
The real sad part is if they were to actually put all that RiverBED Rock and dirt through a SLUICE WASHER, there is probably enough Gold in there to pay for many many projects to help their people. ... Double incentive right there.
laugh all you want .. but almost every River in the DR supposedly has Gold in it .
laugh all you want .. but almost every River in the DR supposedly has Gold in it .
... the weather could be the one and only excuse to ditch ....... run while you can!
The uncontrolled extraction of aggreggates is a major part of the problem along with uncontrolled release of sediment. Some form of control has to be placed on sediment deposition in rivers from farming, road building, and forestry practices. I've seen massive washouts and the resulting sediment deposition, small alluvial fans where the sediment eventually reaches the salt water, in my coastal zone DR travels. Aside from blocking the water flow during extreme rain fall periods, they also create environmental and structural damage, the farmers are losing a valuable soil resource, the river banks are further undermined which results in more sediment deposition, fish habit is altered or destroyed, etc.
The government departments that regulate, farming, forestry, and road construction need to set up and implement an education program, enact regulations to prohibit the bad practices, and enforce them.
Isn't there a new law against buying/using river rock??
I thought my main man said so... No mas de esta..... as he pointed to river rock in the garden
I thought my main man said so... No mas de esta..... as he pointed to river rock in the garden
Fuel for the fire ..... conversation......
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...o-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Actually Bill, for the first time in recorded weather history, the temperature at the North Pole reached 0 degrees in 2016. There are signs of global warming everywhere. Melting permafrost in Arctic towns, less ice in the North West passage which makes vessel navigation safer and easier, etc. The question is how fast will the warming continue to happen and how severe will the impacts be. My personal take on all of this is it happens on a cyclical basis anyway but the effects are now being compounded by made made activities.
From a political perspective, easier access through the North West passage has heightened the interest in countries claiming ownership of those areas, US, Canada, Denmark, Russia, etc. Resource development, oil and gas, and another shipping route from East to West and vice versa are the main interests.
Climate change in the DR is a bit harder to gauge because of its location and existing climate. Hurricanes tend to be stronger now because of warmer ocean waters. Their frequency fluctuates from year to year. The Maldives and Seychelles are losing shoreline to higher tide levels. The DR is not experiencing this problem yet as far as I can tell. Some scientist say long periods of normal weather is abnormal and intermittent periods of abnormal weather is normal. No need to have a boat tied up by your house yet. It will be a long time before water is lapping at your door due to tidal range rise, if it ever happens.
you are a better man than i am. i fail to see why you would discuss this subject. the preponderant majority of climate scientists have concluded that global arming is real, and presents a threat to mankind. on the other side of the debate we have a bunch of guys who have never seen a bunsen burner, pontificating robustly on a subject with which they have less than sero personal understanding and familiarity. i guess that they believe that any initiatives to slow down the degradation of the planet will mean that some guys will not make as much money as they used to, and we just cannot have that. all these regulations are hampering the march of good old laissez faire capitalism. regulations? phooey!! who care if the planet gets royally, and irreversibly screwed? i dont! i will be long gone before it gets to that stage. right now, i want the Ferrari, so get your regulations outta my face.