The tropical storm Noel and its effects on the territory of the Dominican Republic

In the period between the end of October and the beginning of November 2007, the Dominican Republic was hit by the tropical storm Noel, then turned into hurricane in its movement toward the Californian coasts. The passage of Noel was accompanied by huge precipitation especially in the south-western part of the country. In some areas, the rainfall registered in 6 days exceeded 700 mm, i.e., more than two-thirds of the mean annual precipitation. The return periods calculated for this rainfall event vary greatly from region to region: while they locally reach 200 years, such as in San José de Ocoa (50 km west of Santo Domingo), in other areas, as for instance in the territory of the capital Santo Domingo, return periods do not exceed 20 years. The tropical storm caused huge damage both in terms of human victims and economic losses, related to diffused inundations and landslide phenomena, which may be attributed only partially to the exceptionality of the event. As a matter of fact, in many regions, the inadequate answer of the territory—widely characterized by serious problems of land degradation and an almost complete lack of territorial planning—appears to be the major responsible for the occurred negative effects. The impact assessment, based on the calculation of an Impact Index, confirms this statement. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010