17:11 07Dec2003 Tropical Storm Odette drenches Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Post-season Tropical Storm Odette drenched the Dominican
Republic, toppling trees and power lines and forcing thousands of people out of their homes as it
swept over the island of Hispaniola into the Atlantic Ocean, authorities said on Sunday.
At least 11 people were injured in the southern Dominican Republic, most of them in auto
accidents blamed on the storm, emergency officials said.
Odette dumped 5 to 10 inches (12 to 25 cm) of rain on the Dominican Republic, which shares
Hispaniola with Haiti.
Thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas and several homes were damaged in the
southern cities of Polo and Barahona. The storm felled trees and power lines, leaving some areas
without electricity on Sunday.
The storm formed in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday, four days after the official end of the
Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season. Its top sustained winds hit 65 mph (265 kph) as it approached
Hispaniola on Saturday.
The storm lost its circulating wind pattern and began to fall apart as it sped northeast into
the cooler Atlantic waters. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami expected it
to dissipate as it merged with a cold front in the next day or two.
At 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), the scattered remains of the storm were about 150 miles (240 km) east
of Grand Turk Island, part of the British colony of Turks and Caicos, near latitude 21.3 north,
longitude 68.8 west.
It still had top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) but posed a threat only to boaters.
Odette also brought heavy rains to Jamaica during the weekend but no injuries were reported
there.
Odette was the first tropical storm since records began in 1871 to form in the Caribbean in
December, although tropical storms and hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic in December.
It was the 15th tropical storm or hurricane in the Atlantic-Caribbean region in 2003, making
this year one of the busiest ever recorded.