Late Tropical Storm Olga, lashes the Caribbean.
Tropical Storm Olga knocked out power and caused widespread flooding in Puerto Rico on Tuesday. It then pushed on to threaten the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with torrential downpours and mudslides.
Olga developed as a subtropical storm, over the Virgin Islands on Monday, 10 days after the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical storms draw strength from warm seas, so December storms are quite unusual. Olga is only the 10th named storm to have developed in December since records began in 1851. Olga will be included in the tally for the 2007 hurricane season, bringing the number of named storms to 15, including six hurricanes.
Olga was a weak storm as it hit Puerto Rico, recording winds of just 45mph (75 km/h), what it did pose as a more serious threat though was torrential downpours. Through Monday night up to midday Tuesday it brought as much as much as 200mm (8inches) of rainfall to mountain towns. Thousands of islanders were left without power and water as the storm knocked out power lines and disabled water filtration plants.
The storm was then forecast to push west into the Dominican Republic. This prompted authorities to evacuate scores of families in low-lying areas, in a country where at least 89 people were killed late October, in devastating floods caused by Tropical Storm Noel.
Olga is currently crossing Haiti with winds recorded to be around 50mph (80km/h) and is forecast to bring with it up to 250mm (10inches) of rain. Tropical storm warnings remain in force today for the island of Hispaniola, also for the southeastern Bahamas as well as the Turk and Caicos
