The inhabitants of the Castañuelas municipality, Monte Cristi province, saw how their houses were flooded last Thursday due to the overflow of the Yaque del Norte River, a situation that could have been avoided, according to the local mayor, Winston Álvarez.
Álvarez said that before his death, the former Minister of the Environment, Orlando Jorge Mera, tried to avoid this incident by approving, at the municipal council of Castañuelas, the project for the prosecution of cleanup in the area.
“He authorized it so that the river would be deeper and less flooding would occur. At that time we started, but it is a permit that expires monthly and when we went to renew it for the second time, the official had died, to which were added policy issues that paralyzed the dredging, ”he added.
According to the mayor, the river “threatened” to leave homes immersed in the water before the aforementioned day, but it was on that date when it entered the town, the waters lasting approximately 12 hours, until the tributary was able to receive them after the Authorities cleaned up some debris.
Several neighborhoods were affected by the overflow: Santa Mónica, Palmar, El Rincón and Rivera del Yaque, where people live who have received help from brigades that are cleaning the area using fire trucks.
Additionally, the Government of Monte Cristi and Comedores Economicos delivered food to citizens who were frightened at the time of the overflow.
In the place founded on April 13, 1974, there have been floods for many years, one of them was caused by Cyclone David in 1979.
When rains are announced, the reservoir of the dam there is released, due to what they prepare in approximately 72 hours, something they could not do, since they were unprepared.
“Castañuelas is used to receiving floods… People have the ability to take their belongings to other places or raise them on top of things to take care of them, but now it was not possible because it was sudden,” he explained.
On the other hand, Álvarez asked the current Minister of the Environment, Miguel Ceara Hatton, to resume the process that had been initiated by Mera and also took the opportunity to ask the Dominican Government to fix several roads where damage had occurred.
Waste
Reporters from this medium were able to observe a large amount of garbage around the river, which, according to the community, comes from the Santiago Rodríguez province and some surrounding areas.
The level of garbage that was there at the beginning has decreased due to the work carried out by the city council, in conjunction with the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (Indrhi) and the La Cruz de Manzanilla Project, the latter two institutions have lent construction machinery.