Flooding affects Coclé

The Emergency Operations Center in Panama issued a green alert lasting 48 hours Monday, October 23rd as rivers rose in Cocle along with the provinces of Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas, and the region Ngäbe Buglé.

The main areas affected were La Pintada and Cañaveral de Penonomé. Heavy rains have caused flooding of the southern Coclé River and several of its tributaries, including the Rio Toro Bravo, the Santa Ana and La Agustina streams, and others to the Llano Grande area of La Pintada, which overflowed. The overflow onto the inter American highway has created heavy traffic in some of these sectors. 

The staff of the National Civil Protection System and the firefighters in Penonomé and La Pintada, along with the  National Police, were mobilized in different areas to provide assistance to affected families. 

In the neighborhood of El Nazareno in La Pintada, five houses were affected, while in the sector of Cerro Gordo in Cañaveral de Penonomé, five other houses were flooded. 

Tuesday, October 24th the National Emergency Operations Center warned of a high probability of rains on Colón, Guna Yala, West Panama, Coclé (mountainous), Herrera, Veraguas (south and north), Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro.

The proximity of the zone of intertropical convergence, weak trade winds and unstable atmospheric conditions have been favoring the possibility of strengthening a low-pressure system in the Caribbean Sea.