(Panama-Guide) - La Prensa - The amount of rainfall this year in Panama is unprecedented, said yesterday Berta Olmedo, who oversees the management of the department of Hydro Meteorology of the Electricity Transmission Company SA (Etesa). And now this institution says the rains will not stop: in the next 24 hours additional rainfall is expected in the provinces of Panama, Colon, and Darien. Olmedo said so far this year it has rained more than usual, or what he called "historical averages." According to data from the meteorological station of Tocumen, located in the eastern sector of the province of Panama, from 1 to 12 December 265 mm of rainwater fell, while the normal amount for that period is 63.8 mm. That it to say, 315% more than expected
With regards to problems with the water supply being faced by residents who live in the higher parts of San Miguelito and Panama, the director of the Institute of Aqueducts and Sewage Systems (Idaan), Manuel González Ruiz, said he did not know when the water service being provided by the water treatment plant at Chilibre would be stabilized. Meanwhile, in Cañita and El Llano, in the district of Chepo, hundreds of people improvised piers yesterday and reach out to the different communities of Panama and the Darien, to the fact that the waters of the Bayano river had not yet returned to normal levels.
In related news, the Ministry of Education reported that 300 teachers have been transferred by air from the Darien and Kuna Yala. In this regard, teachers union leaders expressed their concerns, because only in the areas of Chepo and the Darien there are about 2,000 teachers working.
The National System of Civil Protection reported that the number of people affected rose to 13,000, and there are 2,720 people being housed in temporary shelters.
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Date Retrieved: December 14, 2010.
