But this storm, which formed last week in the Caribbean, had packed a punch before today, causing eight deaths and property damage in scores of low-lying communities.

In low-lying communities, wastewater may be conveyed by vacuum.

They also protect low-lying coastal communities - and New Orleans, too - from hurricanes by acting as buffers against storm surges and by absorbing high water.

In Louisiana, the storm surge from Rita inundated low-lying communities near the coast, worsening effects caused by Hurricane Katrina less than a month prior.

Most of the damage resulted from the hurricane's storm surge which topped levees and inundated low-lying communities.

Also, he said, the department received about 250 complaints about street and basement flooding "mostly from homeowners in low-lying communities in Brooklyn and Queens."

It pounded the island for three days ending on October 18, flooding several low-lying communities and triggering mudslides that blocked roads and damaged several homes.

About 18,000 people in 20 low-lying communities in the state of Tamaulipas, just south of the U.S.-Mexican border, were evacuated.

European nations with low-lying coastal communities have grappled with this problem for years, but they have usually taken concrete steps only after serious, prolonged floods that caused catastrophic loss of life and property.

People in each low-lying community should have a predetermined route to a nearby high-ground safe-haven hurricane evacuation destination in a public building prestocked with food, water, beds, clothing and generators.