Red Alert For Caribbean, Cold
Snap To Continue Until Sunday
The cold snap that has gripped the entire nation continues to hit
hard the Caribbean and Northern Zone, with strong winds and
torrential rains. The foul weather has also affected areas on the
Pacific coast like Miramar de Puntarenas and Nicoya and Liberia in
Guanacaste.
For the Caribbean zone, a "red" alert has gone out heavy rains have
caused a number of rivers to overflow their banks and flooding.
As of yesterday, 952 people were being housed in 18 shelters in the
areas of Talamanca, Siquirres, Matina, Guácimo and Sarapiquí, in the
province of Limon.
Metereologist Rebeca Mora explains that the cold front stationed
over Panama will affect Costa Rica until at least Sunday.
"Sunday will be a day of transition", said Mora.
In San José the temperature last night fell to 14.5 Celsius, the
daytime temperatures today (Saturday) will be up to 5 degrees lower
than normal, with gusting winds and scattered showers.
Giberto Jiménez, executive director of the Comision Nacional de
Emergencias (CNE) said that some 215 houses have had their roofs
damaged in Miramar and 15 destroyed. In Buenos Aires de Puntarenas,
the local church and 14 homes were left without a roof.
In Pérez Zeledón, 75 homes had their roofs damaged and 50 in
Liberia, Guanacaste.
The national weather service says that winds gusts have been up to
80 Km/h., falling trees, power lines and other damage in many areas.
In Ciudad Colón, Tibás, Guadalupe and Pavas as many as 25.000 people
still have no electrical service, according to Fructuoso Garrido,
director of the CNFL, light and power company.
Garrido said that of yesterday afternoon his crews still had 538
reports to attend to.
Cellular telephone service has also been affected as many of the
radio towers were left without power and batteries being exhausted.
Orlando Cascante, director of mobile services for ICE, did not
specificy the exact number of towers affected, only saying that
"some were affected".
In Heredia, the local power and light company confirmed that 4.400
were still without electrical service mainly due to a 13 electrical
posts damaged by the strong winds in the areas of San Rafael and
Santa Ana de San Isidro.
In Cartago, problems were reported in Paraiso and Pacayas. |
|
|
|
|
|
