Tropical Storm Could Be on the Way

Costa Rica can’t breathe a sigh of relief yet – more stormy weather could be headed this way, officials from the National Emergency Commission (CNE) and the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) reported this week.

The eighth tropical depression so far this season is whirling around near the Lesser Antilles islands and could move west toward Costa Rica today, said IMN meteorologist Gustavo Murillo. It could also gain strength and grow from a tropical depression to a tropical storm, indirectly affecting Costa Rica with heavy rains.

Monday, Emergency Commission workers headed to Heredia, north of San José, and other parts of the country to assess damage in the wake of heavy rains late last week, according to a statement from the commission.

“The saturation of the ground, the enormous quantity of trash in rivers and ravines and a tropical storm … (came) together to provoke a large quantity of incidents characterized by floods and landslides,” last week, when heavy rains hit the Central Valley, Pacific coast and Northern Zone, said CNE President Daniel Gallardo.

Damage was also reported in the Tilarán area of the northwestern Guanacaste province; in Grecia, northwest of San José; in the central Pacific Quepos area; and in the canton of Mora, southwest of San José.