The death toll from Hurricane Otto in Costa Rica has increased from four to nine, President Luis Guillermo Solís announced Friday. Solís declared three days of mourning.
Officials from the Public Works and Transport Ministry estimate that Otto caused damage on 150 roads accounting for some ₡4,734 million ($8.4 million).
President Luis Guillermo Solís ordered a halt to non-essential government services on Thursday and Friday, ahead of the landfall in Costa Rica of Hurricane Otto expected to occur Thursday morning.
The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) confirmed that Otto has downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm on Wednesday morning prompted by a slight variation in its wind speed from 120 to 110 kilometers per hour (75-68 mph).
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 Solís 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 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.
Forecasts from the National Meteorological Institute state that rainy conditions will increase starting Thursday evening and will maintain throughout the weekend.
