Nicaragua and Costa Rica are on high weather alert before the imminent arrival of a tropical storm that will affect the Caribbean coasts of both Central American countries.
According to the National Hurricane Center (CNH) of the United States, the meteorological phenomenon with winds of 65 kilometers per hour and a movement of 31 km / h, was located on Thursday night about 730 kilometers east of the coast of Nicaragua.
The National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention announced that they would mobilize some 900 people who live near the San Juan River and that they would be housed in schools, churches and community halls.
Similarly, a red alert was decreed for twelve cantons under the principle of safeguarding human life, including Liberia, La Cruz, Los Chiles, Guatuso, Upala, San Carlos, Río Cuarto, Sarapiquí, Guácimo, Pococí, Siquirres and Matina.
In Nicaragua, the people who live in Cayos Perlas have also been evacuated; the border area with Río San Juan “and those points where families have expressed a desire to be evacuated.”
Speaking to official media, Johnny Hodgson, secretary of the Regional Committee for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention (Corpred) indicated that in the city of Bluefields alone, in the South Caribbean, there are some 1,200 people who live in areas prone to flooding that They could be mobilized after rains.
What to expect this weekend
The Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (Ineter) reported Thursday night that the climatic phenomenon was located more than 700 kilometers from the Caribbean coast of the country as a depression, however it could become a tropical storm in the next few hours as it approached Nicaragua.
“If this trajectory is fulfilled, these data that we are giving right now and the trajectory that the National Hurricane Center has made official, this system should approach a site between Monkey Point and the mouth of our San Juan River, that is, San Juan de Nicaragua, this We are going to continue monitoring it hour by hour, we are going to surely confirm it with the next data,” said Marcio Baca, director of Meteorology at Ineter.
The expert indicated that once the phenomenon makes landfall, it should rapidly weaken until it degrades as it passes through Nicaraguan territory.
Floods and landslides
The National Hurricane Center in its report on Thursday at 11:40 pm warned about the natural phenomenon that could cause flash floods and landslides in parts of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
devastating background
During 2020, two hurricanes hit the Caribbean area of Nicaragua, causing destruction to indigenous communities, at least 21 deaths and loss of key crops for feeding the Central American nation.
Hurricanes Eta and Iota left Nicaragua with an economic impact of approximately 742.6 million dollars, according to official data.
The greatest impact was concentrated in the loss of homes. According to figures from the authorities, 5,800 houses were total losses and more than 38,000 houses suffered partial damage.
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