May 2004 Caribbean floods with over 1,300 homes being destroyed and about 2,000 people being killed. Due to this destruction, nearly 15,000 people were displaced with nowhere to live. The area that felt the worst of the flooding was the town of Jimaní, near the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In fact, the destruction present at Jimaní was so bad that Dominican president Hipolito Mejia declared a national day of mourning after seeing the effects of the storm. A broad low pressure area developed over Central America on May 19, accompanied by heavy rainfall. The system drifted eastward into the Caribbean Sea,
Projects of the Caribbean Community to obtain a visa unless their countries fell within those that are exempted. Visa abolition agreements between some of the ten Caribbean states concerned and countries whose citizens were then required to obtain CARICOM visas during the Cricket World Cup provided for the suspension of the visa-free policy in such cases. During the three and a half-month period from February to May, the ten Caribbean countries became a "single domestic space" in which travellers only had their passport stamped and had to submit completed entry and departure forms at the first port and country of entry. The entry and departure