President Luis Guillermo Solís 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.
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.
The Costa Rican Red Cross issued a statement Saturday afternoon saying that there have been no reported deaths or injuries in the affected areas, but that the rain's intensity could remain the same until at least Monday afternoon.
