HUNDREDS DEAD, MISSING IN HURRICANE'S WAKE.Byline: Larry Rohter William Lawrence Rohter, Jr. — known as Larry Rohter — (born in Oak Park, Illinois) is an American journalist who was a South American bureau chief (based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) for The New York Times from 1999 to 2007. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times As the death toll from Hurricane Georges' rampage through the Caribbean rose to at least 250, the storm crossed Cuba on Thursday, turned northward and took aim at southern Florida, where a million people were advised to evacuate mobile homes and low-lying coastal areas. At least 125 of the deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (dəmĭn`ĭkən), republic (2005 est. pop. 8,950,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo. , where workers recovered 76 bodies Thursday from a river in San Juan de la Maguana San Juan De La Maguana is the capital city and the largest city in the province of San Juan and is the 10th largest city in the Dominican Republic , 120 miles west of the capital, Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, pueblo, United States Santo Domingo (sän'tə dəmĭng`gō), pueblo (1990 pop. 2,866), Sandoval co., N central N.Mex., on the Rio Grande; founded c.1700 after earlier pueblos were destroyed by floods. . Earlier, at least 45 people in the town of San Cristobal San Cris·tó·bal A city of extreme western Venezuela in a mountainous region near the Colombian border south-southwest of Maracaibo. Founded in 1561, it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1875. Population: 298,000. were killed when the walls of a school being used as a shelter collapsed in flood waters. In the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola, hundreds of people were missing and feared dead. Leonel Fernandez, president of the Dominican Republic, said the storm had left more than 100,000 people homeless and severely damaged sugar, banana, rice and coffee crops that were nearly ready for harvest. ``This has been a national tragedy,'' Fernandez said in a televised address to the country's 7.5 million people. ``We face a titanic task.'' As Hurricane Georges moved back over open water, its winds reached 90 mph late Thursday night and they were expected to reach 105 mph today. The airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was closed because of damage to the control tower and terminals. It was uncertain when it would reopen, but the earliest estimate for restoration of jet traffic was Sunday, American Airlines said. Most of the 3.8 million residents of Puerto Rico were reported still to be without electricity and water. The local telephone company said 339,000 of its customers had no long-distance service, making communication with relatives in the continental United States United States territory, including the adjacent territorial waters, located within North America between Canada and Mexico. Also called CONUS. difficult. Some shops and restaurants have reopened, using generators as their power source, and the government said it hoped to restore power to half the island by the weekend. In Cuba, officials reported two dead from the hurricane, both electrocutions because of downed power lines. Civil Defense officials warned residents to expect mudslides and coastal flooding in the eastern part of the island up to Cayo Coco, a small island popular with tourists north of Ciego de Avila in central Cuba, and urged them to avoid the streets. About 370,000 people had been evacuated to safer areas in the eastern provinces, but some had begun returning home Thursday. Government television showed some rivers overrunning their banks after seven hours of rain, cutting off some municipalities and flooding nearby housing. Power was out in many areas. Early Thursday, the energy expended by Hurricane Georges in its four-day rampage across Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba appeared to have exhausted the storm. But as the hurricane moved back out over the warm waters of the Caribbean, it gained force, and meteorologists Atmospheric scientists
With the storm gaining speed and strength as it moved toward the Florida Straits, forecasters predicted that the eye would strike the Florida Keys early today. From Miami to Tampa, millions of residents rushed to complete their storm preparations in anticipation of that landfall land·fall n. 1. The act or an instance of sighting or reaching land after a voyage or flight. 2. The land sighted or reached after a voyage or flight. and the flooding and destruction that are expected to accompany it. CAPTION(S): photo, box PHOTO (color) A Miami MetroZoo restroom becomes a flamingo shelter as Hurricane Georges moves closer. Joe Cavaretta/Associated Press Box: UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX game in Miami called off |
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