SIGN UP FOR OUR By Wendy Anders
Residents of remote areas in the northern Costa Rican Caribbean are escorted to safe areas by plane in advance of Hurricane Otto.
In a televised announcement today, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís ordered communities along Costa Rica’s northern Atlantic coast to leave their homes in advance of Hurricane Otto’s imminent arrival.
Otto is expected to make landfall early Thursday in Costa Rica’s north Atlantic with winds of up to 90mph, said meteorologists in the U.S., dumping a possible total of 18 inches before heading into the Pacific.
At least 500 public safety officials were sent to the towns of Delta Costa Rica, Calero, Las Barras, Tortuguero, Parismina and Boca Pacuare to urge residents to evacuate their houses for safer ground, stated the Public Security Ministry in a press statement.
A red alert, the highest alert, has been issued by the Costa Rican National Emergency Commission for the Caribbean coast and Costa Rica’s northern region. The rest of the country has been placed under yellow alert, the second of the three alert categories, said the commission.
Police, border police, coast guard and air surveillance officials spent the day aiding the compulsory evacuation of roughly 4,000 people in the northern part of Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, the area Otto is making a beeline for according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s satellite tracking.
Due to the strain on police personnel, Costa Rica’s Division 1 soccer matches scheduled for this week were cancelled due to a lack of officers to aid in ensuring safety of the crowds, reported police.
Officials went house-to-house requesting the inhabitants of Delta Costa Rica, Calero, Las Barras, Tortuguero, Parismina and Boca Pacure either seek shelter in a safe area with relatives or to be escorted to shelters established by the Municipal Emergency Committees in Siquirres and Guapiles.
Tourists and others should avoid visiting the Caribbean and northern Costa Rica until Hurricane Otto has his way, and the potential dangers from flooding and mudslides are over, emphasized the U.S. Embassy in San José.
In addition to aiding with the evacuation, police have also over the past several days delivered food, clothes, blankets and water to remote areas in the northern Caribbean and the southern Pacific, some of which became cut off due to heavy rains, said the public security press office.
