Tropical Storm Noel: Rips Children from Mother's Arms

Tropical storm Noel visited the Caribbean and is expected in the U.S. very soon. Noel's visit so far has damaged the landscape wherever the storm has touched down. Dozens were killed in the Dominican Republic alone.

More Noel weather news from CNN:

Churning in the warm waters of the Caribbean, deadly Tropical Storm Noel approached Andros Island in the Bahamas early Thursday, bringing a torrential downpour of rain and tropical-storm force winds.

The National Hurricane Center said it expects Noel -- which has killed dozens of people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba -- to pick up steam, prompting tropical storm watches to be issued for an area including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The human cost was disastrous for a village and particularly tragic for one mother.

A swollen river washed away the village of Piedra Blanca in the central Dominican Republic, The Associated Press reported.

Pointing to a deluged area, one resident told CNN: "All that area ... was a town that disappeared."
"Absolutely nothing was left here because God took everything," another resident said.

Mary De Leon held on to her infant twins while water carried away an older daughter, the AP reported.
"The river tore her from my hands as I held her," she told the AP through tears.

For the citizens of Florida and elsewhere in the storm's path: forewarned is forearmed.

by Mondoreb
[image:AP]



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