Nov

23

Flooding Slams Caribbean Coast; Bridge Out to Puerto Viejo

November 23, 2008 | Tags: Accidents and Natural Disasters, Transport | 16 Comments

Five days of torrential rains (and its started to rain again today) have caused massive flooding and a state of emergency to be declared on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

Yesterday afternoon one of the bridges into Puerto Viejo washed out and it’s not clear when the heavy equipment needed to fix it would be brought in. The damage is extensive although pedestrians and bikes are making their way across a plank where the bridge came away from the road and then on to the bridge, the remains of which are listing at a 30 degree angle.

Bridge out into Puerto Viejo

Bridge out into Puerto Viejo

By yesterday evening, the ground was so saturated and the rain was continuing to fall that water levels kept rising. At Hotel Banana Azul, where this reporter is located, the water rose about a meter in a matter of hours, cresting just half an inch short of the level of the main floor of the hotel before it started to recede.

Other places were not so lucky. Many houses were flooded and had to be evacuated.   At one hotel several trees were reported to have fallen on top of several of the cabinas.

Buses and some transportation continue to run however as the roads to Limon and to San Jose remain open. The MEPE transport bus is running into Puerto Viejo as far as Pulperia Violeta (Jeffrey’s) where people are walking to and from town.  Some other forms of transport have been canceled leaving travelers stranded and the bus oversold.

Lining up to leave at the bus stop about 1.5km north of downtown

Lining up to leave at the bus stop about 1.5km north of downtown

The communities of Puerto Viejo, Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo are so far operating fairly normally with no major shortages reported. But getting supplies in will be difficult. Without the bridge on the main road into Puerto Viejo the only other option is Margarita Road, a 4WD only road over the mountains between Playa Cocles and the main highway to Sixaola.

Pedestrians and bikes are still making it across the bridge

Pedestrians and bikes are still making it across the bridge

Meanwhile La Nacion is reporting more than 2,000 people, mostly in smaller towns, needing shelter with some communities completely unreachable.