(QCOSTARICA) If your thinking of heading out to Limón from San Jose or vice versa, best to give it some serious thought, given that the Ruta 32 is closed in the area of Rio Blanco, at kilometre mark 58.
The closure is expected to continue for 3 or 4 days, according to the chief of Emergencies at Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), David Meléndez, as engineers evaluate the condition of the bridge supports that appear to have been weakened by the raging river over the weekend.
But that is not the only problem on this major route to and from the Caribbean coast.
Several small, yet important, landslides have occurred in the section of the road that weaves through the Braulio Carrillo national park, past the Zurqui tunnel.
MOPT officials may also temporarily close sections as a preventive measure and carry out clean up work.
The closures are due to the heavy rains in the Northern Zone and Caribbean coast since Saturday night, affecting some 145 communities and requiring almost 500 people to seek refuge in shelters due to flooding.
Through the later hours of Monday and continuing into Tuesday morning, rain continue to fall in most of the Northern Zone. One of the areas most affected is Sarapiquí, according to reports by the National Emergency Commission (Comisión Nacional de Emergencias – CNE) and the Red Cross (Cruz Roja Costarricense), whose brave members have been hard at work in all kinds of rescue efforts.
While alternate routes are the only way to get to and from the Caribbean coast, keep in mind that a series of problems are affecting many of those routes, namely:
-Ruta 32 – Landslide in the area of the Cable Cars (Braulio Carrillo)
-Ruta 140 (Bajos del Toro Amarillo to Venecia)
-Ruta 126 closed iude to landslide starting at kilometre 13
-Ruta 4 the Río Tigre has flooded the road in the area of Río Frío
-Ruta 415 from las Brisas and Calle Vargas in Santa Cruz de Turrialba
