Tropical Storm Noel is expected to keep kicking up rain in Costa Rica over the weekend, and the National Emergency Commission (CNE) maintains a yellow alert for the entire Pacific coast and a green alert for the Caribbean.

Low-pressure systems over the Caribbean Sea are generating precipitation over much of the country, according to reports from the National Meteorological Institute (IMN).

Wednesday night, rains flooded about 40 houses in the cantons of Barva and San Rafael; 20 of these families lost everything. The bridge over Río Segundo de Barva collapsed, and a fiber-optic phone line providing service to San José de la Montaña was severed, according to a statement from the commission.

In the Southern Zone, three shelters remain open with about 90 people who were forced to leave their homes after they were washed out by floods late last week.

CNE president Daniel Gallardo announced yesterday that the commission has received ¢560 million ($1 million) in donations from individuals and companies to help with relief efforts for those affected by flooding during the past month. The money is being put toward rebuilding homes, repairing roads and bridges and getting urgently needed supplies to those who have been displaced.

-Tico Times