Dominica PM expresses ‘empathy and solidarity’ as Texas battles floods

The prime minister of Dominica has released a statement describing his sadness over the "really, really tragic" events in Texas.

And he is hoping to visit the worst-hit city, Houston, to meet with Dominicans.

Tropical Storm Harvey has hit the state hard, bringing huge floods. It is now starting to affect Louisiana, and WIC News understands that a major dam outside the Houston area has begun overspilling. Unprecedented rainfall has forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

Speaking this morning, Roosevelt Skerrit said: "I wish to express my empathy and solidarity with the government of the United States of America and more particularly, the residents of the state of Texas, [and] Houston more specifically.

"Clearly, this is a catastrophic disaster which took place in Texas. We know very well in Dominica the extent of dislocation, the extent of damage that these natural disasters can cause, and just almost exactly two years ago, we suffered a similar fate.

"As a matter of fact, almost exactly two years ago we suffered a similar fate [Tropical Storm Erika]. When I look at the thousands of families that have been affected it really really touches my heart as a world citizen." [caption id="attachment_830" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.[/caption]

Dominican diaspora in Texas

Sources have confirmed to WIC News that a number of Dominicans living in Houston – American's fourth biggest city – have been affected by the passage of Tropical Storm Harvey.

So far no injuries or death to the island's diaspora have been reported.

The prime minister said that he has been in contact with a number of people living there, and hopes that Dominica can help them.

"I know that we have several Dominican families resident in Houston. I have had the opportunity to reach out directly to some of them and to express our concern and indicated to them the willingness of Dominica to assist where we can," he said.

"I intend to visit Houston myself personally at the earliest opportunity to meet with Dominican residents there and to see how we can assist in restoring their lives to normalcy.

"One of the things I would like to propose is for us to reach out to our new citizens, in particular, those high-net-worth citizens and see whether we can have some fundraising drive to assist our Dominican citizens who have been affected by this tragic flooding and so forth.

"Just looking at what is on the news, it is really touching, and speaking to Dominicans who were affected, who had to be rescued by small boats and pubic authorities, they recounted to me the loss of their homes, their belongings, their homes are flooded completely."