The director of the National Meteorological Institute (IMN), Juan Carlos Fallas, after meeting with the President's Governing Council today, said that there is possibility of afternoon rains today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, and a possible arrival of a tropical weather system over the weekend. "We are assessing the presence of tropical system number 43 for the weekend, which means that we are monit...

A stretch of highway north of the turnoff for Puntarenas along Costa Rica's Northern Inter-American Highway will be completely closed to traffic from 9 a.m. and until 12 noon Monday, October 9, said transportation officials. The closure at the Seco River is necessary to make repairs to the bridge over this river along this highway linking Central America which suffered damages from Tropical Sto...

All Cen-Cinai programs except for seven will resume services tomorrow, Monday, October 9, said the Ministry of Health this evening, Sunday, October 8, 2017. And one will re-open Tuesday. The women, infant and children centers will return to their provision of nutritional assistance for pregnant and nursing women, and infants; and child development programs - both daytime, and evening services -...

Public school students along most of Costa Rica's Pacific coast have classes suspended until further notice in the aftermath of the destructive tropical storm that dumped massive amounts of rain late last week, announced the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education late Sunday afternoon. The storm, called Nate, which touched ground in Nicaragua Thursday, October 5, and now is a category 1 hurri...

Having left 11 confirmed deaths in Costa Rica, many still disappeared and cut off from aid, thousands in shelters, and dozens of roads and schools destroyed, Nate, now a Category 1 Hurricane, touched down last night on the Mississippi-Louisiana border in the southern U.S. At least 32 are reported dead throughout Central America in what is now the 9th hurricane of the relentless 2017 Atlantic hu...

Yesterday the report by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation in Costa Rica (MOPT) showed 18 roads closed while 13 others had regulated transit after damages caused by Tropical Storm Nate. Landslides, damaged bridges, fallen trees or collapsed sewerage systems were the main problems reported. The MOPT has been working since Tuesday evening in reestablishing the transit through the diff...

Tropical Storm Nate caused a lot of damage in Costa Rica, here we recount in number and images some of the situations currently affecting the country: • 10 People Dead (According to the last report received by authorities Oct 6th 2 p.m.) • 30 People Reported Missing and several more trapped • 7200 People In 94 Shelters Around the country • 27 Elderly People in Shelter after Elderly Home Floo...

The Costa Rican Government declared three days of National Mourning starting this Friday at noon due to the emergency caused by Tropical Storm Nate in the country and that took the life of eight people. According to the official decree, October 6, 7 and 8 will be of National Mourning, during these days the National Flag in all government offices will be lowered to half-mast from sunrise to suns...

The estimated 65 Costa Ricans who will be repatriated from Puerto Rico Saturday, Oct. 7 will be leaving behind destruction caused by Hurricane Maria, and entering into a Costa Rica battling the aftermath of Tropical Storm Nate. Such is life in the hurricane-hounded Caribbean basin. This is the Costa Rican government's first ever humanitarian repatriation flight held for its citizens, said th...

Costa Rica's National Meteorological Institute (IMN, in Spanish) said rains were abating in much of the country in their 7 p.m. report on Thursday, Oct. 5, with Tropical Storm Nate drifting northwards. The storm is located 75km west of Puerto Lempira in Honduras and continues to move at a speed of 17km/h north-northwest towards the Gulf of Honduras. The storm is expected to traverse the Gulf of...

Photo Archive illustration purposes only. The National Emergency Committee, the National System of Conservation Areas and the Ministry of Environment are raising the alert for communities close to marine lands and estuaries to stay alert for the possible presence of crocodiles and alligators in unusual areas. The heavy rains that have caused several rivers to overflow in different communitie...

For some communities in Costa Rica rain hasn’t stopped in almost 48 hours, this situation has caused the saturation of the floors, several landslides and many flooded areas. At this hour (2p.m.) local time, Tropical Storm Nate has left a toll of six dead, over 5,000 people in around 80 shelters, 18 closed roads and 13 others with regulated transit and hundreds of thousands of people without water....

At a meeting this morning, Thursday, October 5, of emergency officials to discuss the heavy rains from Tropical Storm Nate, the President of Costa Rica Luis Guillermo Solís, declared that all public employees, except emergency and essential workers, will have off today and tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 6. The decision was based on predictions by the Costa Rican National Meteorological Institute (IMN, ...

Photo Credit: Facebook KaMy Sánchez - Cañas Guanacaste The Costa Rican government declared national emergency as a result of the heavy rains that have affected the country as an indirect effect of tropical storm Nate. All public offices will be closed today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday) this includes public schools, day care centers, banks, etc. The only exceptions are essential services ...

Several areas of Guanacaste have suffered the consequences of the heavy rains caused by the tropical depression that formed in the western Caribbean Sea and that is having an indirect effect over the country, keeping most of the territory under red alert. So far it has been the province of Guanacaste which has reported the most problems, with floods, mudslides and several overflowing rivers. ...

The National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) of the Minister of Environment and Energy and the Guanacaste Conservation Area have closed the access to several national parks as a preventive measure due to the bad weather conditions the country is currently experimenting. The Santa Rosa National Park, the Rincón de la Vieja National Park, the Barra Honda National Park and Bahia Junquillal ...

Costa Rican emergency officials have placed the entire country on alert for heavy rains predicted for later this week and possibly into the weekend. The central and Pacific regions of Costa Rica are expected to take the brunt of the effects of a storm expected to form later today in the western Caribbean Sea. Hurricane experts in the U.S. said the system, currently called Invest 90L, "will bring ...

The Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements (MIVAH) recently approved changes to regulations that increased the income cap for housing assistance in Costa Rica. Now, households with a total combined income of up to ₡776 thousand colones (about $1,000) can qualify for a "bono familiar de vivienda" or a family housing grant. This expands the number of household eligible for such assistance. ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Puerto Rico is down and out. Hurricane Maria came ashore last week with 155-mph winds, heavy rains, and a storm surge that wiped out this Caribbean island of 3.4 million U.S. citizens, leaving them in the dark, homeless and without access to food, water, gas, ...

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermos Solís called emergency officials and local government leaders for an urgent meeting today, Tuesday, September 26, at 6:30 a.m. to evaluate the extensive impact recent heavy rains have had throughout the country. The rains have caused damages to homes, road closures, and mud slides in at least half of the counties throughout the country. Between September...

Heavy downpours this past Saturday, September 16 created flooding and mudslides on several parts of Costa Rica's Highway 27, a toll road linking the capital city of San Jose with popular points in the Central Pacific region including Los Suenos, Jacó, Manuel Antonio, Dominical, and areas on the southern Nicoya Peninsula such as Tambor beach. A cascade of water dumping water and mud onto the hig...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Slowly but surely Texas, Louisiana and Florida are returning to normal following two hurricanes -- Harvey and Irma – that together caused an estimated over $200 billion in damages to homes, businesses and public infrastructure. Mother nature doled out a ...

Landslides and floods were the result of the rains this Saturday in Costa Rica. Route 27 (San José- Caldera, Puntarenas) was one of the most affected areas, with floods in several sectors, in the sector between Atenas and Orotina material was falling on the road and videos taken by users showed incredible “waterfalls” in the area; this situation caused traffic jams and a couple of car accidents...

While air service through Florida has already started resuming after Hurricane Irma unleashed its destruction over the southeastern U.S. state this past weekend, American Airlines announced they were extending a suspension of flights between San José and Florida until this Friday, September 15. The airline's remaining eight flights scheduled for the remainder of the week have been canceled. ...

The Costa Rican National Emergency Commission (CNE, in Spanish) and the Municipality of San José are organizing an earthquake drill today, Tuesday, September 12, as part of preventive measures in this country with high seismic activity. More than 60,000 people are expected to participate, which will include employees and customers/clients at 43 public and private entities located in 132 buildin...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  The federal emergency management response to both Hurricanes Harvey in Texas/Louisiana and Irma in Florida will seal the fate of President Donald Trump and his team at FEMA. They will be judged on how well they coordinate with state officials on all leve...

Hurricane Irma has already caused serious damages in Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Barthelemy and St. Martin, and hurricane conditions are spreading over portions of Puerto Rico. The NWS National Hurricane Center has confirmed that the potentially catastrophic category 5 hurricane will present a hazard to Puerto Rico tonight, the northern coast of Hispaniola on Thursday and the Turks and Caicos and...

Many in the San José metropolitan area snoozed through the 5:28 quake that rocked Pavones in southern Costa Rica, but most were rocked by the lesser magnitude one that occurred half an hour later. At 5:50 a.m., a 3.2 tremor was registered 7 kms southeast of Ciudad Colón, a small city west of the capital city. Initial reports from the National  University's Volcanology and Seismology Obnsevatory...

Photo Credit: AccuWeather Hurricane Irma Yesterday it was just a tropical storm, but Irma has rapidly strengthened and is now a category 2 hurricane, still located far in the Atlantic west of Cabo Verde and at the time it poses NO threat to land according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The update provided by the NHC reads: 1100 AM AST (1500 UTC), the center of Hurricane Irma was ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  President Donald Trump arrived in Corpus Christi, Texas Tuesday morning to see firsthand the devastation inflicted upon southeast Texas when Hurricane Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast Friday night – leveling the popular beach town of Rockport and leaving ...

Hurricane Harvey has caused a lot of damage in Texas and some areas of Lousiana, the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2005, Harvey has now been downgraded to a tropical depression; but the 2017 hurricane season that began on June will not come to an end until November 30, and therefore countries in the Caribbean coast remain on alert. The National Hurrican Cente...

The heavy rains that soaked much of Costa Rica Tuesday night, August 29, caused 58 people to be evacuated to shelters due to flooding in their homes. In total, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) handled 50 different incidents in 22 cantons in eight regions of the country. Meteorologists have warned that tropical systems off of the country's coasts will be bringing heavy rains in the upcomi...

With tropical storm Harvey now a raging hurricane passing over parts of the southern United States, four United Airlines flights to Costa Rica out of Houston, Texas were canceled this weekend. So far, these are the only flights affected by the hurricane after it struck the Texas coast this weekend, said Aeris, administrator of San José's Juan Santamaría international airport. Aeris advised p...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Monday’s total-solar eclipse has taken over the media’s airwaves. The hearts and minds of Americans weary of toxic politics welcomed the chance to concentrate on the Moon and Sun instead of terrorism, President Donald Trump, North Korea and racial divisi...

It's no coincidence that Costa Rica's rainiest months are August-October, with these corresponding to the Atlantic hurricane season, whose influence can often spread throughout the country. Right now on the horizon is Tropical Storm Harvey, making its way steadily westward. Forecasters are uncertain whether the system will gain or diminish strength over the weekend as it enters the Caribbean. ...

On Monday, August 21, 2017 many will be able to witness a wonderful phenomenon, people in the United States will get to see a Total Eclipse of the Sun, while in Costa Rica it will be seen as a Partial Eclipse. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the sun and the Earth and blocks the sun totally or partially; in a total eclipse the sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) beco...

In February, the community of Ostional, Costa Rica on the Nicoya Peninsula in the northern Guanacaste province carried out a tsunami evacuation drill. This was the first time such a drill has been carried out in Costa Rica. Ostional is home to the Ostional Wildlife Refuge, which the World Wildlife Fund considers “one of the two most important nesting areas in the world for Olive Ridley turtl...

Name an area of Costa Rica that is not at risk for volcanic eruptions, mosquito-borne diseases, flooding, landslides, or affected by high crime rates .... take your time. There are hardly any, right? This was part of the highly critical statement published by the Union of Private Sector Businesses today in response to a proposal by the Costa Rican Education Ministry (MEP, in Spanish) to rais...

During the year 2015, over half a million lightning strikes were recorded in Costa Rica, and during the first six months of 2016, there were 170,000 events recorded. Costa Rica's National Electric Company, ICE maintains an Atmospheric Discharge Network made up of five sensors, which have been in operation since 2002. ICE uses a modern combination of technologies to determine, the parameters of ...

Are volcanoes in Costa Rica secretly conspiring to erupt simultaneously, or is there some science behind all the recent gas, lava and ash? Scientists are looking at the connection between the recent eruptions of three volcanoes and the energy released along fault lines. Two tectonic plates meet in Costa Rica: the Cocos and Caribbean,placing the country soundly within the globe's ring of fire, o...