Heavy rainfall has caused flooding in many provinces of the Dominican Republic due to the influence of a weather trough and the indirect effects of Tropical Storm Rafael.

Emergency Operations Centre (COE) issued a flood warning to as many as 29 provinces with places such as Santo Domingo, San Cristóbal and Barahona likely to be affected the worst.

Weather troughs are significant meteorological phenomena that can have an effect in shaping our planet's climate and influencing various weather patterns, there are two types of troughs:

• Positively tilted troughs: Are less likely to cause severe weather
• Negatively tilted troughs: Are more associated with severe weather events.

Like many other countries in the Caribbean island chain, the Dominican Republic lies just slightly south of the Atlantic hurricane belt. This runs from the west coast of Africa, across the Atlantic, through the Caribbean Sea, and into the Gulf of Mexico, with most storm systems first forming in the middle of the Atlantic and turning north in the Gulf of Mexico. In particular, the more southerly Caribbean islands are usually spared.