Transport Officials Hope
To Re-Open
Interamericana Sur By
Friday
The chief of operations
of the Comisión Nacional
de Emergencia (CNE) -
national emergency
commission - Sigifredo
Pérez, confirmed that
the Interamericana Sur
will re-open by Friday.
The major route
connecting the Central
Valley to the Souther
Zone is complete closed
off at Kilometre 117 as
machinery of the
Minsterio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT)
and the CNE continue to
clear the 15 landslides
that caused the road to
be closed and trapping
almost 1.000 last
Thursday.
Pérez said that the MOPT
crews are working around
the clock to clean the
debris from the roadway,
the stumbling block is
the cave in that
transport officials need
to erect a Bailey bridge
to get traffic moving
through the area.
Yesterday afternoon the
last of the trapped
vehicles and their
drivers - some 60
tractor trailers -
finally made it out of
the area known as Cerro
de la Muerte, after they
became trapped on
Thursday as the drivers
refused to leave their
trucks unattended.
The biggest problem
facing the MOPT crews is
the continuing rain that
is causing more
landslides.
The minister of the MOPT,
Karla González, said
that the damage
evaluation is ongoing
and there is a good
chance that the highway
will be re-open by the
end of the week.
For the time being for
those travelling to and
from the Southern Zone
will have to use the
only alternate route
available, the Costanera
from Quepos to
Dominical, a 40 portion
of the coastal highway
that is rocky and takes
between 90 and 120
minutes to travel.
To take the Costanera,
from San José you need
to travel to Jacó, pass
Parrita and then turn
left before entering the
town of Quepos, existing
at Dominical, that then
takes you along the
Pacific coast to points
like Puerto Jimenez or
through the mountains to
Peréz Zeledón to the
Interamericana Sur to
its final point of Paso
Canoas at the Panama
border.
The preliminary damage
total caused by Alma's
visit is being
calculated at ˘17
billion colones,
affecting som 19.000
people, damaging 117
highways and rural
routes, 22 aqueducts and
100 bridges.
Peréz Zeledón and
Parrita received the
brunt of the tropical
storm as some 327
communities in those two
areas were affected by
flooding and mudslides,
some communities
completely cut off from
civilization, requiring
helicopters to get
supplies, food and
medicine to the
affected.
The CNE said this
morning that it has
reached 90% of the
affected communities.
In Parrita some 800
people are still being
housed in shelters,
according to the CNE.
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