Areas of North East Puerto Rico, including the capital, San Juan, suffered flash floods after 5 cm of rain fell on Thursday 5 December last week.
The situation is now getting back to normal, but over the weekend streets were inundated and many vital roads were closed. In San Juan, the city’s ageing drainage system again came under scrutiny after it had failed to clear the heavy rainfall from the city’s homes, highways and streets.
In Santurce, a distrcit of San Juan, shelters were set up in local schools for those displaced by the flooding. In another suburb of San Juan, a roof collapsed on a building in Las Carreras Loiza after the heavy rainfall.
In total there were as many as 18 districts under flood warnings on Friday, including Fajardo , Ceiba, Naguabo, Las Piedras and Luquillo. Other districts or municipalities included Bayamón, Canóvanas, Ciales, Corozal, Guaynabo, Manati, Morovis, Trujillo Alto, Vega Alta, Vega Baja, Dorado, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Carolina, Cataño, Rio Grande and Loiza. All of these warnings are believed to have since been lifted although some threat of urban flooding and also waterborne disease still remain.
Other areas of the Caribbean have suffered from flooding recently, including Cuba, Trinidad and Guyana.
