120 Evacuated After Weekend Rains

Indirect rains from Tropical Storm Richard caused flooding that forced 120 people to temporarily evacuate their homes Sunday night in Escazú, west of San José, and in Corredores, in Costa Rica’s southern zone.

Costa Rica’s National Meteorological Institute (IMN) classified Sunday nights rains as “very intense” and said last weekends’ deluges were caused by Tropical Storm Richard, which Monday morning was crossing the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Richard became a hurricane before hitting Belize Sunday night. The storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression with sustained winds slowing to 55 kilometers per hour as it moves past northern Guatemala into Mexico.

Conditions in Costa Rica improved Monday, though, and all 120 evacuees returned to their homes.

Minor flooding was also reported in neighborhoods southeast of San José, such as Zapote, and in Tibás, just north of San José.

Small landslides were reported in La Uruca, a northwestern district of San José, and in Guayabal de Heredia, north of San José.

For Monday, the IMN is forecasting afternoon rains of varying intensities across the Central Valley, in the country’s northern plains and along the Pacific coast, along with isolated electric storms.