Region

IMN forecasts rains will continue until tomorrow in Guanacaste

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The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) forecasts that the rains affecting the province of Guanacaste will continue through this weekend. According to IMN meteorologist Rebeca Morera, the rain won’t begin to let up until Friday, August 28.

“For Friday, a change is shaping up in which the rains are going to be manifesting but they won’t be as recurrent. The tendency is that they will be reducing in extension [that they will be shorter] throughout the day,” said Morera.

For the weekend, according to the meteorologist, the region should resume the normal pattern for the rainy season, which means that precipitation will continue but will be more concentrated in the afternoons and nights, and at specific points.

According to data from the National Emergency Commission (CNE), as of this Wednesday, August 26, the province reported about 70 flood incidents, which involved opening eight shelters in three cantons: Santa Cruz, Carrillo and La Cruz.

The eight authorized locations house a total of 384 people.

We must remember that we have an orange alert condition throughout all of the Pacific of our country and also in the Northern Zone,” said Sigifredo Perez, CNE’s chief of operations.

Storm Weather

Morera explained that the rains affecting the province are classified as a storm because they have already been non-stop for more than 24 hours.

She added that the institution does not foresee that this panorama will evolve to a more complex phenomenon in the next few hours. “The strongest will be today and tomorrow,” she commented. “What happens is that now the ground is very saturated [with water] and any rain event can cause an incident,” she added.

Guanacaste is one of the most affected areas because there is instability in the atmosphere that favors the formation of clouds in the region. The more clouds, the more rain.

What we have is the very active Intertropical Convergence Zone over the country causing nuclei of cloudiness that form towards those sectors,” Morera commented.

Some of the communities in Guanacaste that report flooding and damage to bridges and other infrastructure are Bolsón, Veintisiete de Abril, Marbella, Cartagena and Filadelfia.

IMN recommends for all communities:

  • Exercise caution in areas vulnerable to flooding due to sewer saturation.
  • Exercise caution on the main national highways due to reduced visibility.
  • Take refuge in a safe place in case you hear an electrical storm or notice strong gusts of wind near the storm clouds, and exercise caution due to possible falling tree branches and power lines, among other things.

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