The steady rains that have washed over Costa Rica since Monday continued in earnest yesterday, brewing floods that damaged almost 300 houses in the central Pacific.

The National Emergency Commission (CNE) yesterday upped the green, preventive alert to a yellow alert for the Pacific slope. The Central Valley remains under a green alert, and steady rain is expected to continue in the area today, thanks to a low-pressure system over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula that's blowing rain over Costa Rica, according to a statement from the commission.

Residents in the central Pacific towns of Quepos, Parrita, Puntarenas and Esparza should remain particularly alert since some of these areas have received rain for 48 hours straight, saturating the ground and creating prime conditions for landslides and floods. Families living near rivers or other bodies of water should identify shelters and head to them promptly should water levels rise significantly.

Some families in parts of Puntarenas and Esparza are already in shelters after about 150 homes in the area flooded yesterday. Flooding has also been reported in the northwestern Guanacaste town of Cañas, and a landslide occurred in Palmares, northwest of San José.

-Tico Times