SANTIAGO — Torrential downpours that swept through Santiago province over the past 24 hours have triggered a deadly traffic accident that claimed two lives when a passenger vehicle slid off a roadway and crashed into the Ulises Francisco Espaillat (UFE) irrigation canal in the western part of the city.
The extreme weather, which dumped heavy rain across the region, created dangerous driving conditions that included widespread urban flooding and drastically cut down visibility for motorists. According to local emergency officials, these hazardous conditions directly led to the fatal incident.
Officials have identified the two victims as Julio Álvarez, a Venezuelan national residing in the area, and Olga María Amparo, a citizen of the Dominican Republic. Francisco Arias, the provincial director of the Dominican Republic’s Civil Defense agency, confirmed that the driver of the vehicle missed the correct route amid the blinding rain, ultimately veering off into the canal.
Search and recovery teams located the victims’ bodies in La Embocada community, located within Santiago’s Cienfuegos district. Once the bodies were recovered from the water, representatives from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) took charge of transporting the remains for official examination and next of kin notification.
Local authorities have urged motorists to avoid unnecessary travel across the province as ongoing unstable weather continues to create unsafe driving conditions, with flash flooding remaining a major risk for low-lying and urban areas.
Floods Rains leave two dead and cause other damage
