Franklin, which brought stormy winds and rainfall across the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti, is forecast to gather strength over the Atlantic Ocean and could near hurricane force this weekend. "Franklin could be near hurricane strength over the southwestern Atlantic by Saturday," the NHC said, saying it expected the storm to gradually strengthen from its current maximum sustained winds near 40 mph. The head of the Dominican COE emergency services a man had been found dead earlier on Wednesday in San Cristobal province, after trying to swim through floodwaters. In a briefing with COE, Dominican President Luis Abinader said the government would attend to communities whose infrastructure was damaged by the storm and that schools and businesses would resume on Thursday. The storm also cut off access to six Dominican communities and damaged roads, water infrastructure and the electrical grid, emergency services said.

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Persons: SANTO, Storm Franklin, Franklin, Luis Abinader, Paul Mathiasen, Harold Isaac, Sarah Morland, Harshit Verma, Ananya, Lincoln Organizations: PORT, U.S, National Hurricane Center, NHC, country's Hydro, Meteorological Unit, The United Nations, Food Programme, Thomson Locations: SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Hispaniola, Haiti, Puerto Plata, Dominican, Atlantic, San Cristobal province, Sud, Santo Domingo, Port, Mexico City, Bengaluru