Official
Severe Weather
Costa Rica
On 28 July, the National Emergency Commission (CNE, per its acronym in Spanish) reported 2,362 people are still living in 44 shelters due to severe weather in recent days. The shelters are in the cantons of Talamanca, Limón, and Matina in the province of Limón; Sarapiquí in Heredia; Turrialba, Jiménez in Cartago; as well as in Upala, Guatuso, San Carlos and Los Chiles in Alajuela. In terms of physical impact, five bridges, 21 dams, and 102 education centers are affected. A state of emergency is declared in 14 Cantons where teams have begun assessing the housing situation. The National Meteorological Institute (IMN, per its acronym in Spanish) predicted severe weather may continue Wednesday evening through Thursday morning in the Northern and the Caribbean zones. Floods and landslides that occurred last week affected 36 communities across the country. This season, severe weather has generated about 2,800 events associated mainly with floods and landslides. Additionally, on 29 July, media reported 323 landslides and 2251 floods have been recorded in 36 communities in 7 provinces according to CNE, and Red Alert is maintained for the Cantons of Upala, Guatuso, San Carlos, Sarapiqui, Turrialba, Martina, Limon, and Talamanca. Media also reported severe weather events of recent days affected 12,000 students and classes have been suspended for the school year. Given this situation, the Ministry of Education is assessing the situation to gather information that will guide the implementation of a plan to restore classes. The reports are available at: CNE, TELETICA, CRHOY and NACIONAL
