A man sells food in an area destroyed by Tropical Storm Olga in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, yesterday. Dominican authorities reported 11 more deaths yesterday in floods caused by Tropical Storm Olga, raising the Caribbean-wide death toll to 25. - AP

The death toll from Tropical Storm Olga neared two dozen yesterday after flash floods killed at least 22 people in the Dominican Republic, where 35,000 people were forced to flee their homes, Dominican officials said.

The rare December tropical storm, which disintegrated into a mass of thunderstorms late on Wednesday, killed two people, a woman and a three-year-old boy, in Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Olga's torrential rains also were blamed earlier for mudslides that killed a man in Puerto Rico.

The remnants of the year's 15th tropical storm skirted Jamaica to the north, raced through The Cayman Islands and were expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday.

In Jamaica several communities in the Corporate Area were impacted by the rains which pummeled the island Wednesday night into yesterday morning. According to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), among the worst affected areas were Harbour View, Bull Bay and some sections of August Town.

Closely watched

"The ODPEM will continue to monitor the situation and is advising persons to monitor the media for further updates," the disaster management agency said.

The majority of the Dominican deaths - at least 17 - were people drowned when a river burst its banks and flooded parts of Santiago, the Dominican Republic's second-largest city, 110 miles (176 km) north of Santo Domingo, the capital.

The Yaque del Norte River rose rapidly on Wednesday morning after the release of water from the nearby Tavera dam, local officials said.

Dragged away

Rushing waters submerged and flipped cars, and sent panicked residents to treetops and rooftops. Some died as the flood waters collapsed their homes while others were dragged away by the water.

Olga was the second storm to hit the Dominican Republic in just over a month. In late October, Noel killed at least 89 people, left 42 missing and caused millions of dollars in damage to roads, farming and power and water systems.

Olga formed in the Virgin Islands on Monday, 10 days after the official end of the six-month Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season. Tropical storms feed on warm seas, so December storms are unusual.

It was the 17th named storm to form in the region in the month of December since record keeping began in 1851, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.