Flooding Reported in 65
of the 81 Cantones, With
More Bad Weather On The
Way
The 'yellow' and 'red'
alerts continue in the
country has heavy rains
have been the cause of
18 deaths in the last
nine days, more than
2.000 flooded and some
1.400 people being
housed in shelters, and
at least 27 routes
damaged.
The Comisión Nacional de
Emergencias (CNE) -
national emergency
commission - said
yesterday that 65 of the
81 cantones in the
country are on red or
yellow alert mainly due
to flooding and
mudslides caused by the
rain.
The Central Valley and
the Pacific coasts
(South, Central and
North) are the most
affected by weather, the
province of Guanacaste
getting the brunt of
damage in the last days.
The CNE says that more
than 2.000 homes are
under water in Nandayure,
Hojancha, Carrillo,
Santa Cruz, Nicoya,
Liberia and La Cruz, all
in Guanacaste. And in
Parrita (Puntarenas
province) is still under
red alert as that
community continues its
struggle with floods.
During his visit to the
Liberia yesterday, Costa
Rican president Oscar
Arias declared a state
of emergency to allow
state institutions to
offer their services and
resources to help the
affected and their
communities.
Preliminary calculations
by the Ministerio de
Obras Públicas y
Transportes(MOPT) put
the figure at between ¢4
and ¢6 billion colones
(us$7.8 and 11.6 million
dollars) in damage
caused to the road
network, all due to the
heavy rain.
The torrential rains
have been caused by a
combination of a
tropical wave during the
past weekend and low
pressure systems. The
prediction that another
tropical wave is
expected by next Monday,
adding to the amount of
water being dumped on
the country.
A calculation that has
yet to be done is the
loss to the agricultural
production, as in
Guanacaste alone,
hundreds of hectares of
sugar and melon
production were
destroyed by the
Tempisque river
overflowing its banks.
Electrical posts and
cables and telephone
lines have also been
damaged by the rain, as
well as fresh water
pipelines.
Daniel Gallardo,
president of the CNE,
said yesterday that many
in the affected areas
have not paid attention
to the CNE warnings and
have had devastating
consequences. Gallardo
commented that some of
the 18 who died in the
past nine days would
have not if they had
heeded the CNE warnings.
Gallardo was emphatic in
that people should pay
attention to the CNE
warnings and take
precautions. Gallardo
added that some people
have refused to leave
their homes and
community in advance
telling the CNE that
they know their rivers
and their behaviour. In
other cases, others have
stayed behind fearing
losing everything to
criminals taking
advantage of the
situation by stealing
from the empty homes.
According to the CNE
president, the
commission has spent
some ¢12 million colones
in aid providing
blankets, foam
mattresses and food and
another ¢80 million
colones in contracts for
machinery to help with
the clean up and road
repairs. |
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