Heavy rains recorded Monday morning in various regions of Costa Rica were the result of a low-pressure system, the National Meteorological Institute reported.
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.
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.
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.
According to Costa Rica's National System of Conservation Areas, mudslides and flooding damaged access roads and collapsed sewers in several parks, some of which were forced to close access to visitors. Those closings mostly occurred in the Central Volcanic Range, the La Amistad-Caribe area and Tortuguero National Park.
