ROSEAU, Dominica — Rescue crews fanned out across Dominica late Thursday to search for missing and injured people after Tropical Storm Erika pummeled the eastern Caribbean island, unleashing landslides and killing at least four people.
The storm, which forecasters said could reach Florida as a hurricane on Monday, dumped 15 inches of rain on the small island as it spun west toward Puerto Rico.
An elderly blind man and two children were killed when a mudslide crashed into their home in the southeast of the island, said Police Chief Daniel Carbon. Another man was found dead near his home in the capital of Roseau after a mudslide, but the cause of death could not immediately be determined, Carbon told The Associated Press.
Police said another 20 people have been reported missing.
“Erika has really, really visited us with a vengeance,” Assistant Police Superintendent Claude Weekes said in a phone interview. “There are many fallen rocks and trees, and water. It’s really chaotic.”
He said crews are trying to reach isolated communities via the ocean because many roads and bridges are impassable.
“We’re going to work throughout the night to see if we can get to the areas,” he said. “There are people missing in different parts of the island.”
Erika was centered about 135 miles south-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, as it picked up speed, moving west at 17 mph with maximum sustained winds of up to 45 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Erika was expected to move near Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Thursday and be near or just north of the Dominican Republic on Friday as it heads toward Florida early next week, possibly as a hurricane.
Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the hurricane center, said the storm could dissipate if it passed over Hispaniola or Puerto Rico or it could strengthen and pose a potential threat to Florida next week. “The uncertainties are very high,” he said.
As the storm entered the Caribbean, it did the heaviest damage to Dominica, an island of about 72,000 people with lush forests and steep terrain. Authorities were still conducting a full damage assessment after rivers surged over their banks and walls of mud surged into homes.
About 80 percent of the island was without electricity, and water supply was cut off, authorities said. Trees and light poles were strewn across streets as water rushed over parked cars and ripped the scaffolding off some buildings. The main airport was closed, with water rushing over at least one small plane.
