Tropical Storm Noel lashed the Dominican Republic with heavy rains on Monday, causing flooding and mudslides that killed at least 20 people and left another 20 missing, officials said. Noel was expected to dump up to 20 inches of rain on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola, as it heads northwest toward the Bahamas. Forecasters said it was likely to veer east, away from the United States. The storm had been forecast to hit Haiti hardest but veered toward the Dominican Republic, apparently catching residents offguard.

"We didn't know that it was going to be like this, it took us by surprise," said Guarionex Rosado as he left his home in La Cienaga, one of Santo Domingo's most affected neighborhoods.

Schools and shops closed across the Dominican Republic and many roads were impassable. Communication was cut between many small towns and the capital. In Santo Domingo, the storm knocked down trees and signs and flooded streets, forcing people from their homes.

Ramon Franco of the Dominican emergency services agency said at least 20 people had died and another 20 were reported missing.

Three of those killed died when they were swept up by a fast-moving river in San Jose de Ocoa, southwest of the capital. Three more - a couple and their child - were killed in a mudslide in the port city of Haina, officials said. Details of the the other deaths were not immediately available.

International aid workers believe the death toll is certain to rise as reports come in from remote areas of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

"I think this has taken some officials by surprise. The storm was predicted to go more toward Haiti," said Holly Inuretta, a regional adviser for U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services.

Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said there were no immediate reports of casualties in his country, but he urged people to seek shelter.

"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."

Haiti is prone to deadly flooding because of its steep mountains and hills deforested by people who cut down the trees to make charcoal. Damage reports, however, are often slow in reaching 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 50 mph after passing near Haiti's northwestern coast, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Noel's poorly organized center was about 50 miles northeast of Cuba's eastern tip and 215 miles south-southeast of Great Exuma Island in the central Bahamas, forecasters said. It was heading northwest at roughly 15 mph.

---_

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

Written By RAMON ALMANZAR