Heavy rains

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

The northwestern province of Guanacaste already has registered the highest deficit in rainfall since the National Meteorological Institute began keeping records in 1937.

Tropical wave number 18 will bring cloudy mornings and will increase rains during the evenings, the National Meteorological Institute reported.

Post-flooding repairs included tourist trails at the park's main entrance. Some sectors remain closed as park staff are still rebuilding some bridges that fell in late June.

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

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.

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

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.

National Emergency Commission on Tuesday reported that 18 communities in the provinces of Limón, Heredia and Cartago are currently isolated by flooding.

The removal of more than 4,000 cubic meters of debris that over the weekend blocked Costa Rica's Route 32 between San José and Limón continued on Monday, with officials from the Public Works and Transport Ministry estimating that transit on the highway would remain closed at least until Tuesday.