Weather Report

Heavy rains this weekend in the Dominican Republic are causing rivers to overrun their banks in several areas of the country. This follows on the heels of a severe power outage due to problems with the power generation facilities.

This is a typical report for the week:

Los indicadores meteorológicos muestran la continuación de las precipitaciones intensas en el territorio nacional debido a la humedad que habrá en la atmósfera local. La vaguada persistirá sobre el país, sin embargo el frente frío se habrá movido lentamente un poco más hacia Puerto Rico. - El Caribe

I noticed that Prensa Latina from Cuba has an English RSS feed.

The Dominican Military - Air Force

President Fernandez made sweeping changes to the Dominican military yesterday, replacing generals and admirals, as well as replacing the National Police Commissioner.

The country has a relatively small military.

Here's a nice summary of the Fuerza Aérea Dominicana (FAD), the Dominican Republic's air force and related air assets in other branches. The FAD is used in a variety of ways, including fighting forest fires. The force uses several key bases. Following Hurricane Jeanne, the force was used to distribute humanitarian supplies to Haiti, as well as in country. The force lists 5,500 active personnel. Here's a rundown.