Tropical Storm Noel brought heavy rain and flooding to the Dominican Republic on Monday and officials said at least 20 people had died. At least 20 other people were reported missing from the storm, which lashed Hispaniola, the island the country shares with Haiti, said Ramon Franco of the Dominican emergency services agency. Noel was expected to drop as much as 20 inches of rain on Hispaniola before heading northwest toward the Bahamas.

Schools and shops closed throughout the Dominican Republic and many roads were impassable. Communication was cut between many small towns and the capital and authorities said the death toll could grow.

In Haiti, there were no immediate reports of casualties.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Tropical Storm Noel brought fierce thunderstorms and flooding to the Dominican Republic on Monday and officials said at least eight people had died.

At least three others people were reported missing as rains continued to lash Hispaniola, the island the country shares with Haiti, said Manuel Antonio Luna Paulino of the Dominican emergency services agency.

Noel was expected to drop as much as 20 inches of rain on Hispaniola throughout the day as it heads northwest toward the Bahamas.

Luna said many people were apparently caught off guard by the ferocity of the rain.

At least five of the deaths were from drowning said Gesmin Simon, a spokeswoman for the emergency services agency.

Schools and shops closed throughout the country, communication was cut between many small towns and the capital and the government began distributing food rations, blankets and mosquito nets.

Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said there were no immediate reports of casualties in his country, but he urged people to seek shelter and said airports would be closed throughout the day.

"It's very serious now," Alexis said at a news conference in the presidential palace. "It's moving very slowly and dropping a lot of rain."

Impoverished Haiti is prone to deadly flooding because of its steep mountains and deforested hillsides, and many people live in shacks in vulnerable areas. Damage reports, however, are often slow to reach authorities in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Floods earlier this month killed at least 37 and sent more than 4,000 people to shelters.

Mountainous terrain weakened the storm overnight, but Noel still had sustained winds of about 45 mph after passing near Haiti's northwestern coast, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

At 2 p.m. EDT, Noel's poorly organized center was about 30 miles northeast of Cuba's eastern tip, forecasters said.

It was heading northwest at roughly 15 mph. A long-term forecast has the storm passing through the Bahamas and gradually turning east, away from the U.S. coastline.

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Associated Press writer Jonathan Katz in Port-au-Prince, Haiti contributed to this report.