First Unusually Powerful Storm of 2008 Hits – Emergencies declared in 23 areas of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica’s first major storm ‘Alma’ was an unusually strong storm for this time of the year and has brought serious problems to many parts of Costa Rica with the government declaring emergencies in 23 different areas of the country.

These areas include in San José: Acosta, Aserrí, Dota, León Cortés, Mora, Pérez Zeledón, Puriscal, Tarrazú y Turrubares. In Guanacaste: Bagaces, Cañas, Carrillo, Hojancha, Nandayure, Nicoya y Santa Cruz. In Puntarenas: Aguirre, Buenos Aires, Corredores, Garabito, Montes de Oro, Parrita y Puntarenas.

We have had severe flooding with rivers overflowing and a few communities remain isolated, without electricity, potable water (go figure) and gas.

At least 1,152 homes have been destroyed or very badly damaged, 21,000 people in 453 communities have been affected directly and 55,000 people were affected indirectly due to lack of drinking water, no electricity and deliveries of fuel and food that simply can’t get through.

From an infrastuctural standpoint the damage is significant with 114 bridges seriously damaged and problems on 117 stretches of roads. According to Daniel Gallardo, the president of the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (their ‘Disaster Areas’ page has not been updated since November 2002), it will be difficult to attend to all of the areas in need.

Sr. Gallardo said that: “Imagine that only one meter of bridge costs US$5,000, to fill one kilometer of road costs around US$10,000 and there are 3,000 kilometers of damaged roads. One house has a cost of around US$20,000 and just in Pérez Zeledón there are 100 homes affected.”

Because of landslides at Cerro de la Muerte – the highest and coldest point on the main North South Interamerican highway – more than 1,000 people were trapped in their cars and on buses between landslides.

For those of you with plans to visit any of these ’emergency’ affected areas in the near future, it might be sensible to confirm the exact conditions before you leave…

Our thanks to our friends at La Nacion – Costa Rica’s largest Spanish circulation newspaper for their permission to summarize their articles in English…

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.