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Costa Rica

Costa Rica: Floods Emergency Appeal Operations Update no. 2 (MDRCR016)

Attachments

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

From 21 September to 6 October 2017, a Zone of Intertropical Convergence (ZCI), characterized by the entry of humidity from the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, hovered over Costa Rica; it subsequently developed into Tropical Storm Nate on 5 October 2017, which caused flooding and landslides throughout the country.

Tropical Storm Nate generated heavy rains, winds, and storm surges, causing widespread infrastructural damage, loss of property in public offices, the disruption of agricultural production and local ecosystems, one death and various injuries to humans and livestock; the storm affected 76 of the country's 82 cantons, 516 points were damaged along 117 national routes and 509,000 people were left without water, prompting the Costa Rican government to open 137 collective centres for 7,073 people and the president to declare a State of Emergency for Costa Rica.