The death toll from Tropical Storm Noel rose to 59 in the Caribbean today, with the storm moving on from Cuba and headed towards the Bahamas, the Miami Herald reported today. The Dominican Republic's government reported 41 dead with 20 more missing, and Haitian authorities, who had previously reported no deaths from the storm, confirmed 18 fatalities.
Cuban authorities reported no deaths but said 3,000 people were evacuated. Even though the body of the storm has moved on, damage from lingering rains could continue to mount because some regions are already completely saturated. The island of Hispaniola faces a long road to normalcy as well, with 50,000 evacuees in the Dominican Republic and 2,000 Haitian homes destroyed. (More Cuba stories.)