Flooding in Costa Rica by Alex Deakin
Persistent and heavy rain has lashed many parts of southern Central America over the past few days, with Costa Rica being hit hardest.
At least 46, 000 people have been rendered homeless from devastating flooding with damage running into tens of millions of U.S dollars. The heaviest rain has been falling along the Caribbean east with provinces of Limon, Cartago, Heredia and San Jose being worst affected. Flash floods and mudslides blocked roads from the capital, San Jose to the port town of Limon, and vast areas of agricultural land have been destroyed.
The rain and floods across the country are being caused by an active cold front associated with a deep area of low pressure over the Caribbean Sea. Although the rain has eased across northern parts of the country, further heavy and thundery rain is forecast across southern and eastern areas over the next few days.
Costa Rica’s climate is divided into two major seasons: rainy and dry. The dry season runs from January through to May and the rainy season from May to November and December. Despite the fact that Costa Rica sees heavy rain during November, rainfall with this intensity over a long period is not so common.
