Storm dissipates after killing at least 20 in Caribbean

Strong winds and waves batter the coast as Tropical Storm Erika approaches Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, Friday, August 28, 2015. Tropical Storm Erika began to lose steam Friday over the Dominican Republic, but it left behind a trail of destruction that included several people killed on the small eastern Caribbean island of Dominica, authorities said.

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Tropical Storm Erika dissipated early Saturday, even as its remnants began drenching parts of eastern Cuba. But it left devastation in its path, killing at least 20 people and leaving nearly 50 missing on the small eastern Caribbean island of Dominica, authorities said.

In Haiti, one person died in a mudslide just north of Port-au-Prince, and at least four others were killed in a traffic accident that apparently occurred in the rain.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm had degenerated into a trough of low pressure by early Saturday after the mountains in Hispaniola knocked Erika below tropical storm force.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a televised address late Friday that damage inflicted by the storm had set the island back 20 years. Some 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain fell on the mountainous island.

"The extent of the devastation is monumental. It is far worse than expected," he said, adding that hundreds of homes, bridges and roads were destroyed. "We have, in essence, to rebuild Dominica."