The National Emergency Commission (CNE) raised the alert in the Cental and South Pacific from green to yellow after 130 reports of floods in these areas caused by intense rainfall of tropical wave #40 that affected the country this Thursday, the red alert remains for the districts of Cobano, Paquera, Lepanto, El Roble, and the Center of Puntarenas that were considerably affected last week.

The morning of this Thursday, President Carlos Alvarado was able to confirm the damage left behind by the rain in these communities during a helicopter flyover. The CNE estimates that 240 communities in 20 counties were affected specially in the provinces of Puntarenas and Guanacaste.

“We saw the saturated condition of the rivers and the mountains. We also confirmed that rivers such as San Rafael, Grande and Guarial have taken other courses and have affected crops, which is why personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture is present in this visit”, commented the President.

The CNE confirmed that only 100 people remain in shelters of the over 1500 that were evacuated last week.

Authorities are evaluating the damages and the problems left to be solved to help the population recover from this. The President also affirmed that the objective of the flyover and the presence of experts of the different institutions is not only to assess the damages but also to find possible actions that could help mitigate the effects of future rains in the different communities.