WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5)
(13.IV.2015)
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RA IV HURRICANE COMMITTEE
THIRTY-SEVENTH SESSION
ITEM 4.2
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA
13 TO 17 APRIL 2015
Original: SPANISH
REVIEW OF THE PAST HURRICANE SEASON
Reports of hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical disturbances and related flooding during
2014
Report of the Dominican Republic
(submitted by the Dominican Republic)
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 2
IMPACT OF BERTHA ON THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hurricane season 2014
1. - INTRODUCTION
There was little activity during the 2014 hurricane season in the Dominican Republic. The
only impact was from tropical cyclone Bertha, which arrived as a tropical storm, becoming a
hurricane over Atlantic waters, north of The Bahamas.
Bertha moved as a tropical storm across the eastern part of the country between 2 and
3 August 2014, producing the heaviest accumulated rainfall over the towns and villages of the
eastern region.
Bertha hit the north-eastern region of Boca de Yuma at 7 p.m local time (23:00 UTC) on
Saturday, 2 August, when it was located at latitude 18.5 north and longitude 68.7 west.
2.- USE OF ALERTS AND WARNINGS AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS OF BERTHA
Fig. 1.- The path of Hurricane Bertha across the centre of the Lesser Antilles, the eastern
part of the Dominican Republic and the southern Bahamas.
2.1.- Alerts and warnings
At 8 a.m. local time on Friday, 1 August 2014, the National Meteorological Office,
ONAMET, issued an early weather warning from Cabo Engaño to Samana, urging the inhabitants
of towns and villages in the area concerned and the emergency services to be on the alert for
further bulletins, as Bertha was situated about 175 km east/north-east of Barbados and some
375 km east/south-east of Martinique.
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 3
Fig. 2.- Bertha’s position at 8 a.m. on Friday, 1 August 2014
At 1 p.m on the same day, Friday, 1 August, ONAMET changed its alert to one of possible
tropical storm conditions from Saona Island to Cabo Engaño in the South-east and East, and from
Cabo Engaño to Cabo Francés Viejo to the North, as Bertha was some 120 km north-east of
Barbados, moving west/north-west at around 33 kph, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kph.
Fig. 3.- Bertha’s position at 2 p.m. on Friday, 1 August
At 10 a.m. on Saturday, 2 August, Bertha was poorly defined and changed its course to a
more westerly direction. Consequently, the Dominican Republic Meteorological Service, in
coordination with the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre in Miami, had to change its alert
to a warning of tropical storm conditions for the areas mentioned in the previous alerts; Bertha was
then moving rapidly west/north-west at around 35 kph when it was some 175 km south of San
Juan, Puerto Rico and some 295 km south-east of Saona Island, Dominican Republic.
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 4
Puerto Rico’s radar was showing moderate to intermittently heavy rain; however, numerical
prediction models for expected rainfall in the Dominican Republic fluctuated between 25 and
75 mm, reaching a possible 150 mm in isolated areas, especially over the eastern provinces of the
country.
Fig. 4.- Bertha’s position at 11 a.m. on Saturday, 2 August 2014
At 7 p.m. on Saturday, 2 August, with the warning of tropical storm conditions from Saona
Island to Cabo Engaño and from Cabo Engaño to Cabo Francés Viejo still in force, the poorly
defined centre of Bertha was located over the north-eastern region of Boca de Yuma (impact zone)
in the South-east, moving west/north-west at around 35 kph, as winds diminished to around
75 kph. It should be noted that on the afternoon of the same day, a United States Air Force
Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found no clear definition in its circulation, owing to the system’s
interaction with the mountain areas of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 5
Fig. 5.- Bertha’s position near Boca de Yuma at 5 p.m. on Saturday, 2 August
At 1 a.m. on Sunday, 3 August, Bertha was very disorganized as it came extremely close to
Puerto Plata, in the northern Dominican Republic. The warning remained in force, unchanged.
Finally, at 7 a.m. on Sunday, 3 August, the Dominican Republic Meteorological Service
cancelled the tropical storm warning. However, local alerts and warnings of flooding and landslides
remained in place for eastern provinces such as La Altagracia, El Seibo and Hato Mayor, and
north-eastern provinces such as Samana, Duarte (especially those in Bajo Yuna), María Trinidad
Sánchez and Monte Plata. Alerts and warnings of flooding in urban areas were also issued for
eastern areas such as La Romana and San Pedro de Macorís, and the city of Santo Domingo in
the South.
2.2.- Associated effects
The winds recorded in the Dominican Republic fluctuated between 10 and 22 kts (18 and
41 kph), reaching a maximum speed of 22 kts at Santiago Airport and 18 kts at La Romana.
The satellite image for 22:55 UTC (6.55 p.m local time) on Saturday, 2 August 2014
showed that the greatest thunderstorm activity, producing heavy rain, was concentrated over the
coastal region, from Bani eastward to Cabo Engaño, and inland areas in the eastern parts of the
Cibao Valley and the whole of the eastern region, where the heaviest rainfall occurred. It should be
noted that this storm’s strongest convection was concentrated east and north-east of its centre.
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 6
Fig. 6.- Image of the infrared channel for 22:55 UTC on 2 August 2014
The highest accumulated rainfall occurred in the meteorological stations located in the
East, the western area of the capital city, the Azua region, Barahona and the far north-west of the
country, which recorded between 65 and 170 mm between 2 and 3 August. The map in Fig. 7
shows the distribution of rainfall in the Dominican Republic during the passage of Tropical Storm
Bertha.
NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE
CLIMATOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF
RAINFALL ON 22 AUGUST 2014
Map
RAINFALL (mm)
RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
Fig. 7.- Map showing the accumulated rainfall produced by Bertha between 2 and 3 August
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 7
2.3.- Damage reported by the Dominican Republic Emergency Operations Centre
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Flooding on the Seibo River in El Seibo cut off the localities of Arroyo Grande and
La Cuchilla;
Flooding on the Higuamo River in San Pedro de Macorís cut off the localities of Yerba
Buena, Villita, las Claras and Capote and destroyed the bridge approaches and aqueduct
pipes;
Flooding on the Magua River in San Pedro de Macorís cut off 938 people and 607 people
respectively in the communities of Monte Coca and Las Pajas. It was reported that the river
had flooded the bridge connection to the locality of Consuelo;
The localities of Lima, Campiña, Cabeza de Toro, Concho Primo, Atilano one and Atilano
two were cut off by flooding on the Soco River in San Pedro de Macorís;
A total of 9,052 persons and 11 localities were cut off, and there was damage to one bridge
and one aqueduct.
Fig. 8.- Map showing the levels of alerts issued by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)
and affected areas
Dominican Republic – Map of areas affected by Tropical Storm Bertha – 3 August 2014
centre (EOC)
Emergency operations
Hato Mayor: Flooding on the Higuamo River cut off Yerba Buena, Villita, Las Claras and Capote, also destroying the
bridge approaches and aqueduct pipes in the community of Yerba Buena.
El Seibo: Civil Defence reported flooding on the El Seibo River, cutting off localities of Arroyo Grande and La Cuchilla.
San Cristóbal: Civil Defence reported seven homes flooded in the Moscu district. Some ??(illegible) residents remained
in their homes.
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 8
San Pedro de Macorís: Civil Defence reported Lima, Campiña, Cabeza de Toro, Concho Primo and Atilano one and
two cut off when the Soco River flooded the La Base bridge.
Sto. Dgo: So far, reports of fallen trees in some areas.
Key
Provinces on alert
Red alert
Yellow alert
Green alert
Remainder of text illegible.
3.- TROPICAL DISTURBANCE
On 20 August 2014, a broad, weak area of low pressure initially carried a 30 per cent
probability of becoming a tropical cyclone. By 22 August, the chance that it would develop into a
cyclone had increased to 50 per cent. It crossed the eastern and north-eastern regions of our
country as a tropical disturbance generating precipitation and thunderstorms, moving in a northeasterly direction. The satellite pictures show the predominance of low cloud. After leaving the
Dominican Republic, it turned into Tropical Storm Cristóbal in the south-eastern Bahamas in the
early hours of Sunday, 24 August.
The exceptionally heavy rain broke historical records for torrential rainfall events, some
examples of which are given below:
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Hato Mayor (Eastern Region), 255.2 mm on 22 August 2014, broke the previous record of
237.3 mm on 31 August 1979, when the country was h`it by Hurricane David;
Peralta, Azua (Southern Region), 209 mm on 24 August 2014, breaking the existing record
of 158.8 mm on 25 August 1988.
A series of maps of accumulated rainfall on 22, 23 and 24 August 2014 is reproduced below.
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 9
NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE
CLIMATOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF
RAINFALL ON 22 AUGUST 2014
Map
RAINFALL (mm)
RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
Fig. 9.- Highest cumulative values in the East and North-east on 22 August 2014
NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE
CLIMATOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF
RAINFALL ON 23 AUGUST 2014
RAINFALL (mm)
RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
Fig. 10.- Highest cumulative values in the East, South and North-west on 23 August 2014
RA IV/HC-37/4.2(5), p. 10
NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE
CLIMATOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF
RAINFALL ON 24 AUGUST 2014
RAINFALL (mm)
RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
Fig. 11.- Accumulated rainfall on 24 August 2014. Lower levels can be seen, but the arrival
of humidity from the Caribbean meant that the highest cumulative values were in the
southern sector. A very isolated area of peak rainfall can be seen in the North-east.
The most significant cases of damage reported by the Dominican Republic Centre of Emergency
Operations are listed below:
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303 homes affected;
2,309 displaced persons staying with friends or family;
248 persons in official shelters;
Three communities cut off;
One hospital affected;
46 aqueduct systems affected;
Damage to the agriculture and fishing sector in the provinces of Hato Mayor, El Seibo,
San Pedro de Macorís and Monte Plata;
Other affected areas were mainly in Santo Domingo and the National District, where there
were reports of homes flooded.
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