
About 125 houses have been flooded, thousands of people are without drinking water, rivers are at their highest levels, and material damages are the result of a second cold front affecting more than 100,000 inhabitants of the Bocas del Toro province in Panama. Gladys Concepcion, the Provincial Director of the National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC) said they issued a "Green Alert" in the region and activated a Delta team to respond to any emergency that may arise in the coming hours. Meanwhile, the residents of Guabito are concerned about the possible collapse of the wall that protects their community from the fury of the Sixaola river, because it is crumbling thanks to the strong currents being produced by the river. This alerted the Ministry of Public Works, which began work to urgently repair the weakened wall that protects Guabito. The floods have also affected the banana industry, leaving hundreds of hectares flooded, putting exports at risk. Concern among the people who live in the region is growing, over outbreaks of diarrhea and the announcement that it will continue raining through today, Saturday. (Source - El Siglo)









Ranchers in the province of Los Santos spent Carnival Tuesday building small dams to try to mitigate the depletion of streams. Starting from the early morning hours Tuesday, as thousands of Panamanians enjoyed the last day of carnival, ranchers began building dams using sacks filled with sawdust in an attempt to store enough water to keep their cattle alive through the drought. Water scarcity is remarkable along the river La Villa, whose flow has declined dramatically compared with last year. Florentino Cortez, a rancher who lives in the community of El Corozal, of Macaracas, said he is working with two assistants to dam the creek El Pajonal, and thus he hopes to be able to cope with the months of March and April. The director of the Ministry of Agricultural Development in Los Santos, Jorge Castro, said the institution is distributing bags to farmers to build dams, to mitigate the damage being caused by the El Niño Phenomenon. Last year, a thousand cattle died in the districts of Los Santos, Las Tablas, Guararé, and Macaracas due to a lack water and fodder. The communities most affected by a lack of water are El Cedro, El Corozal, and Chupa in the district of Macaracas, and farms near Las Cruces and Villa Lourdes in the district of Los Santos. In Los Santos there are 273,902 head of cattle. About 1,000 died last year due to drought conditions. (Source: El Siglo)

The strengthening of a cold front, which remains stationary over Costa Rica, has caused several problems in the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí and Colón. It has been raining constantly, accompanied by strong winds. Arturo Alvarado, the Director of the National System of Civil Protection, confirmed he has declared a "green alert" - which means they are monitoring the situation at several locations. So there the level of the Caldera river has risen, along the coast waves as high as 12 feet have been reported, with sustained winds of 25 kilometers per hour. Alvarado reported that a 16 year old is missing in the Teribe river in Bocas del Toro. In the province of Colón an abandoned ship broke loose from its anchor and ran aground in front of the Parque de la Juventud near 1st Street in the city of Colón. Due to the intensity of the winds, the Flower Fair in Boquete had to be shut down on Monday evening. According to the report, the flow of the Caldera river rose two meters. The cold front will remain in place for about 24 hours more, so stay alert. Officials in the area of Talamanca in Costa Rica, the headwaters of the Sixaola river, remain at a yellow alert. This cold front is stationary over Costa Rica, where it has also caused several problems. (Source: Kathyria Caicedo for Telemetro Reporta)
