Costa Rica saw further heavy rainfall and flooding on Monday 06 July and Tuesday 07 July 2015. WMO report that Puerto Limon saw 174.9 mm of rain fall in 24 hours during that period. Costa Rica’s National Meteorological Institute have warned that the heavy rainfall will continue.
Costa Rica’s National Emergency Commission (Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias – CNE) issued a red alert for parts of Heredia and Limón provinces.
Authorities say that the rain and flooding has forced a total of 1057 people to evacuate thier homes and move to one of the 13 temporary shelters set up by CNE, many of them in local community halls or churches. Most of those displaced are in the canton of Sarapiqui.
As of 07 July 2015, 94 communities across 15 cantons were facing access problems after roads had been flooded or damaged.
2 Weeks of Flooding
This latest period of heavy rain means that parts of Costa Rica have suffered flooding for over 2 weeks. Floods in the Caribbean and Northern regions on 21 June 2015 left 25 communities isolated and hundreds displaced.
After a short respite, where some of those affected were able to return to thier homes, northern and eastern parts of the country were faced with further torrential rain on 27 June which caused damage to roads, bridges and houses, and affected over 200 communities across 3 provinces of Limón, Heredia and Cartago.
Colombia and Venezuela
The heavy rain is continuing to fall in parts of northern Colombia and Venzuela, both of which have been hit by floods over the last 10 days. Over 50 mm of rain fell in 24 hours between 06 and 07 July in Arauca, Colombia, according to WMO. Guanare in Venezuela saw 53 mm of rain in the same period. A state of emergency was recently declared after heavy rain and floods in the state of Apure, Venezuela.
