For the second consecutive day, LIDOM, the Dominican Republic’s winter professional baseball league, has cancelled all three scheduled games as Tropical Storm Melissa heads toward Hispanola, the island on which the Dominican Republic and Haiti sit.
The announcement was made at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and follows a similar cancellation of Tuesday’s games. The government of the Dominican Republic issued a “Red Alert Declaration” for nine provinces in the country’s southwest, including the capital of Santo Domingo, late Tuesday night as the country prepares for the storm’s arrival. The alert was issued for Wednesday and Thursday, though LIDOM has yet to announce a cancellation of Thursday’s games.
On its website announcing the cancellations, the league stated that it will announce the rescheduling of the games promptly, while constantly monitoring the weather and coordinating with the Dominican authorities.
In its 11 a.m. EDT advisory, the U.S. government’s National Hurricane Center reported that Tropical Storm Melissa is about 300 miles south-southwest of the Haitian capital of Port au Prince and about 325 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica with sustained winds of 50 mph and is moving west-northwest at approximately two mph.
The NHC has issued a Hurricane Watch for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-Au-Prince and a Tropical Storm Watch for Jamaica.
Three games were on the slate for Wednesday night in LIDOM, bringing the total number of games cancelled due to Tropical Storm Melissa to six. The Gigantes del Cibao were to play the Leones del Escogido at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal in Santo Domingo, the league-leading Estrellas Orientales were to face the Aguilas Cibaenas at Estadio Cibao, and the Tigres del Licey were scheduled to face the Toros del Este at Estadio Francisco A. Micheli in La Romana.
Graphic: The cone of probability for Tropical Storm Melissa in the National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. advisory issued on Oct. 22. (Courtesy of the NOAA/National Hurricane Center)
