Rain rain go away

Heavy rains recorded Monday morning in various regions of Costa Rica were the result of a low-pressure system, the National Meteorological Institute reported.

Motorists in Costa Rica are facing heavy traffic jams at the start of the rainy season, thanks to flooding, accidents and additional cars on the road.

Heavy thunderstorms and flash floods washed away cars and flooded homes across the Costa Rican capital of San José, with the neighborhoods of Los Yoses, San Pedro, Montes de Oca and Desamparados among the hardest hit by the rains.

The latest sinkhole to appear this year was a 6-meter wide, 11-meter deep sinkhole that opened up over the weekend on the street near the Transportes Costarricenses Panameños bus station in Plaza Víquez. City workers started repairing the gaping hole that opened between Avenue 20 and 5th Street on Tuesday.

Costa Rica can expect torrential rain, wind gusts and lightning storms all week.

The flood on Second Avenue in front of Barrio Chino’s iconic friendship trapped taxis and buses as water lapped at the fenders of smaller cars. Business owners tried in vain to bail out their shops or construct makeshift walls to keep the water out.

Heavy rain is expected to hit Costa Rica again this week as tropical wave number 15 arrives in the country this season.

Flooding in recent weeks and road blockades staged by porteadores on Wednesday caused losses in the tourism sector at a time when businesses expected to profit from the mid-year school vacations.

The National Meteorological Institute forecasts continued rains for the Caribbean and northern regions, and precipitation in the Pacific region, including Guanacaste. Currently 1,630 people forced to leave their homes by flooding and landslides are being housed in 17 shelters.

Tuesday evening's closure of Route 32 from San José to Costa Rica's Caribbean coast makes the fourth time since June that authorities have closed the route due to heavy rains and landslides.

President Luis Guillermo Solís is considering upgrading the alert for these regions from Yellow to Red — the most serious in the country’s three level emergency system. Passage on Route 32, the main road connecting the capital San José with Limón province, was reopened Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.

Currently the only alternative route between San José and the Caribbean is Route 10, which runs through Turrialba and Siquirres.

President Luis Guillermo Solís visited damaged areas in the Caribbean province of Limón on Wednesday and Thursday after heavy rains last weekend caused floods in Costa Rica's Caribbean and northern regions.

National Emergency Commission officials on Friday closed all 16 shelters following evacuees' return home.