QCOSTARICA – The U.S. National Hurricane Center confirmed shortly after 2 pm Saturday that the disturbance associated with a tropical wave in the Caribbean became tropical depression No. 29, that is, it reached the minimum category required to be classified as a cyclone.
The effects on our country are expected on Sunday, November 1.
The tropical cyclone is south of Haiti, approximately 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the city of Limón, moving at 24 km/h and sustained winds of 55 km/h.
According to Costa Rica’s national weather service, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), it is estimated that it will continue to advance on Sunday over southern Jamaica and between Monday and Tuesday it will be approaching the border coast between Nicaragua and Honduras.
As this happens, an intensification of the cyclone to the category of tropical storm is estimated, with associated winds between 62 and 117 kilometers per hour.
According to Rebeca Morera, of the IMN, when it becomes a cyclone it is given closer monitoring because depending on its trajectory, this will be the effects on the isthmus.
For now, an indirect effect on our country is expected and that the greatest recurrence of rains will occur in the South and Central Pacific, although in the rest of the country rainfall could also be reinforced.
Depending on the movement, the impact could occur in other sectors of the Pacific, but that will be known as the hours go by.
For now, high amounts of rainfall are estimated, between 100 and 150 liters per square meter and a maximum of 200 liters in 24 hours.
The cyclone could remain stationary in the Caribbean between Nicaragua and Honduras, since a cold push is being visualized to the north of Central America, which would slow down its advance towards the north of the continent.
“There are different atmospheric phenomena that may be influencing this system to be located very close to Nicaragua and remain there without advancing rapidly,” Morera explained.
In November, the cold forces begin to arrive and that means that the cyclonic systems of the Caribbean can remain close to the isthmus.
Mobilization underway
According to Lidier Esquivel, head of the Risk Investigation and Analysis Unit of the National Emergency Commission (CNE), since Friday, liaison officers and engineers began to be sent to the southern area, where the warehouses are already supplied.
Municipal committees are attentive for any eventuality in vulnerable points to landslides and floods.
In the southern zone, the CNE has identified landslides in San Vito de Coto Brus, Río Claro de Golfito and the vicinity of the Abrojo lagoon in Corredores, among others.
The one in Coto Brus led to the eviction of 40 families in 2018 and since then there have been no major incidents.
