Costa Rican government officials expect the most severe effects of Hurricane Otto to hit the country on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, President Luis Guillermo SolÃs said at a press conference on Tuesday evening.
Hurricane Otto is the seventh of the 2016 Atlantic season and the latest hurricane formation on record in the Caribbean sea, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported.
President Luis Guillermo SolÃs ordered the mandatory evacuation of 4,000 residents of seven Northern Caribbean communities as recent forecasts state tropical storm Otto will become a hurricane in the next hours.
Forecasts from the National Meteorological Institute state that rainy conditions will increase starting Thursday evening and will maintain throughout the weekend.
The National Meteorological Institute announced that a low-pressure system plus a tropical wave that entered the country on Monday will likely cause heavy rains to continue through Thursday.
Waves of up to 3.20 meters (10.5 feet) are hitting Puntarenas beaches this week. Beachgoers and coastal residents are urged to exercise caution and prepare for potential flooding.
Heavy rains recorded Monday morning in various regions of Costa Rica were the result of a low-pressure system, the National Meteorological Institute reported.
