The downpours since Sunday night in Limón left kept some 600 children in La Colina away from school on Monday because of flooding.
The same thing happened with the students at the school in Limoncito.
Other “barrios (neighborhoods) such as Envaco and Juan Pablo Segundo were also affected by flooding.
“The water came into my house and we had to put all the belongings away from home so that they would not be damaged,” said Ricardo Castro, a resident in Envaco.
“I went as usual to open the classrooms of the school and I found them totally flooded. “The water level reached almost to my waist,” said Ana Badilla, who serves as the caretaker of La Colina school.
She added she was not surprised, that the same has happened for more than 20 years every time it rains hard.
“The Chocolate ravine overflows and this turns into a whole ordeal. The Municipality of Limón, as a local government, does not look for a solution to this problem,” Badilla added.
Sigifredo Pérez, chief of operations of the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergency Commission, said that in Pococí, Guácimo, Talamanca and Limón, the rains force them to have the regional committees ready for any eventuality.
The Chirripó, Bananito and Yorkín rivers have been reported as having swollen, the latter near the bridge over the Sixaola river, but for the moment they remain without overflowing their banks.
The heavy rains are expected to continue well into Tuesday and Wednesday. According to Juan Diego Naranjo, of the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – the national weather service, the acceleration of the wind generates the precipitations in the Caribbean coast and the north zone.
Naranjo explained that the rains are not constant, there are periods when they stop completely, but then the downpours return, dumping up to 70 liters per square meter in a 12 hour period.
Cooler in Central Valley
While parts of Limon city get downpours, only a few showers are expected for the Central Valley and higher elevations and cooler weather.
The high recorded Monday in San Jose was 24 Celsius, while last week it was in the normal range of 28 Celsius.
On the Pacific coast, there is a heatwave, with a high of 42 Celsius reported in the port city of Puntarenas at Monday noon. The official high in Limon by the IMN was a few degrees lower.
Meanwhile, in Guanacaste it is windier and but no rain, some rainfall, however, is expected in the Nicoya Peninsula.
The southern part of the country showers in the afternoons is no the norm because the rainy season has arrived there.
See here the weather forecast across the country for Tuesday, April 30.
