Airports closed, flights cancelled
Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened slightly as it swirled toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but seemed unlikely to gain enough steam early Friday to strike the island of Hispaniola as a hurricane, AP reports.
It said the storm didn’t gain the kind of strength in the Caribbean that forecasters initially projected made, so it’s more likely that Isaac won’t become a hurricane until it enters the Gulf of Mexico, said Eric Blake, a forecaster with U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The latest five-day forecast showed the storm’s path shifting to the west, possibly making landfall in the north central shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm dumped heavy rain Thursday across eastern and southern Puerto Rico and whipped up waves as high as 10 feet (3 meters) in the Caribbean as it churned across the region.
At least 10 flights of the routes Santo Domingo-Miami, Orlando-Santo Domingo and San Juan, Puerto Rico-Santo Domingo were suspended today as the result of Tropical Storm Isaac.
Among the canceled flights figure l706 and l7l7, to Orlando, Florida, both of JetBlue airlines and l06l, L398 and American Airlines to Miami, national airport authorities said Friday.
Other flights canceled include Continental Airlines l473, l74l, 4888; American Eagle L744 between Santo Domingo and San Juan, Puerto Rico and 822 of JetBlue, according to reports from Las Americas International Airport.
Also reported was the suspension of flights affecting hundreds of passengers, mostly Dominicans who remain stranded at airports in Miami, Puerto Rico and Orlando. Others chose to return home until the storm threat subsides.
The Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel, order the suspension of classes in the schools, starting at noon yesterday (Thursday) and today, Friday. In addition she reported that she has issued orders to all the education regional offices to take the necessary measures to store and protect the equipment and furniture from the damage that could be caused by winds and rains
Dominican Republic Live, 24.08.12, 11.15am
