Following on from our RIVER posts.

Rains send rivers dangerously higher in Caribbean

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Several days of heavy rain sent rivers higher Monday across much of the Caribbean, destroying houses, setting off landslides and forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. The storm has been blamed for four deaths in the region, officials said Monday.

There were reports of severe flooding in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica from a low pressure system that lingered south of Jamaica for five days before moving west.

In provinces north of the Dominican capital, authorities evacuated more than 4,000 people, and at least a dozen homes were destroyed by floodwaters from the Licey River, said Francisco Arias, a regional civil defense official.

In neighboring Haiti, more than 200 people sought shelter after a lake on the country's border with the Dominican Republic burst its banks over the weekend, said Lesly Dorce, an official with Haiti's Civil Protection Department.