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President of Costa Rica declares emergency: flooding, landslides force Caribbean residents to shelters; many left without communications

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June 27th, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) The president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis declared an emergency on Saturday and declared a RED ALERT as heavy rainfall continued to flood the entire province of Limon and the cantons of Turrialba and Sarapiqui.

 

President Solis said that emergency personnel had been activated.

 

Route 32, the main highway between San Jose and Limon, is blocked at kilometer 25 after a landslide blocked the roadway with some 4,000 cubic meters of material.

 

Official reports said that the Reventazon and Pacuare rivers have overflown, blocking the passage to El Impero in the canton of Siquirres.

 

The Parismina River has also broken its banks and the El Carmen River has overflown, flooding residents in an area known as la Pajarera.

 

In Turrialba, at least eleven people have been put into a shelter established at the local community center.

 

In the communities of Caño San Jose, Nogales and Colono in Sarapiqui, 144 people have been moved to shelters due to flooding.

 

A fiber optic line has also been damaged that is cut off both cellular and landline telephone service throughout Sarapiqui.

 

This is a breaking news story.  Stay tuned to Inside Costa Rica and THIS PAGE for the latest updates (Scroll down for updates, photos and video).

 

UPDATE 4: (3:04 P.M.) The Matina dam broke hours ago, flooding at least one neighborhood.

UPDATE 3 (2:59 P.M.) (Via Policia de Transito) Limon is pretty much completely cut off from the rest of the country: Route 32 closed; Route 10 (Turrialba – Limon) closed; Route 36 (Limon – Sixaola) closed; Route 415 closed.

Also closed: Route 702 San Ramon – La Fortuna 3 km before Fortuna.

UPDATE 2 (1:57 p.m.) A section of the bridge over the Rio Sucio has collapsed (see photo below)

(Carlos Paramo / CRHoy.com)

(Carlos Paramo / CRHoy.com)

 

Update 1 (Photos/video; 2:35 p.m.) This is the situation at the Reventazon hydroelectric project:

 

(Twitter / @maryed1579 )

(Twitter / @maryed1579 )

 

 

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  • Canamjay

    This is terrible,,, I have friends who have a finca in Sarapiqui and can’t contact them so far.. (they live in SJ, but travel frequently to their finca) .. the pics look just horrific.. one can only hope the rains will stop soon and cleanup/fixup can begin… my hopes and thoughts are with you my friends..

  • Yeims

    Every year the rains and flooding down there come as a big surprise. The truth we have known for more than 2,000 years how to control water. If one googles the EPA and Hydrology, there is a very good free course on hydrology by the government that is well worth the time.

    • Ben

      There people to listen to the wonderful epa.

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