Keith Woolford Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 Two people have perished in a landslide just west of Panama City. The area of Fundavico in Arraijan has now been evacuated. Tourists and residents in the Comarca Guna Yala have been evacuated. This is in the San Blas Islands. Heavy wind damage has been reported in Portobello, east of Colon. Preparedness efforts are being made in the province of Bocas Del Toro http://www.prensa.com/sociedad/Evacuan-turistas-pobladores-Guna-Yala_0_4627037273.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris McCall Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) My daughters are on their sailboat in the San Blas Islands and report no rain last night, calm winds this morning, blue sky on the horizon. Yesterday top wind speed was 30 knots. The hurricane has moved north and seems to be collapsing. I think we might even have a sunny day here in caldera. www.sailingoneworld.com --my daughters boat. Edited November 23, 2016 by Admin_01 converted URL into hot links Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) Good to hear. Looks like we dodged a bullet. Images from Portobello by Armando Escapa where a number of boats lost their moorings. Otto has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm but there have been four deaths and ten people are still reported missing in various sectors. http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Otto-debilita-tormenta-personas-desaparecidas_21_4627997155.html Edited November 23, 2016 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) Otto has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm. Four deaths and ten people are still reported missing in various sectors. http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Otto-debilita-tormenta-personas-desaparecidas_21_4627997155.html Edited November 23, 2016 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted November 23, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 23, 2016 Quote Weather alert halts school classes Posted on November 22, 2016 in Panama Panama in the rain Post Views: 225 SCHOOL CLASSES have been suspended across the country following the issuing of a nationwide yellow weather alert.by The National Emergency Operations Center of the Civil Protection System (Sinaproc) The yellow alert was prompted by constant heavy rainfall generated by tropical storm Otto, which has been upgraded to hurricane status in the southwest of the Caribbean Sea. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/weather-alert-halts-school-classes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted November 23, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 23, 2016 Quote Red alert and 80 km winds for Caribbean coast Posted on November 22, 2016 in Panama Post Views: 254 A RED ALERT has been issued for Panama’s Caribbean coast due tropical storm Otto. The announcement was made by President Juan Carlos Varela at a press conference on Tuesday morning Nov. 22 Varela said that school classes across the country will continue to be suspended. “A red alert is declared for the coast of the Panamanian Caribbean, with a yellow alert for the rest of the country.” The red flag warning for the Caribbean coast calls for winds up to 80 kilometers per hour that generate strong waves “Said a statement from the Joint Emergency Task Force. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/red-alert-80-km-winds-caribbean-coast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted November 23, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 23, 2016 Quote Rains collapse three homes Posted on November 22, 2016 in Panama Post Views: 266 HEAVY rains led to the collapse of three houses on a hillside in the Nuvea Libia sector of northern Panama), collapsed on Tuesday, November 22. There were no reports of injured people, and soon after the collapse furefighters and Civil Defense teams (Sinaproc) arrived to cordon off the area. Tropical storm Otto, in the Southern C aribbean has been upgraded to a hurricane with winds of 120 km. It has led to a red alert in parts of Panama and a yellow alert in all other areas. Schools and government offices have been closed, and some metro bus routes shut down. Three people are known to have died as a result of the storm, and emergency services are working round the clock to assist over 2,000 people displaced by floods and widespread damage. http://giphy.com/gifs/NUVNMU6CdCHF6?utm_source=iframe&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=tag_click http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/rains-collapse-three-homes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) Bud, the above posts are from yesterday. According to Chris and to the Accuweather map at http://www.accuweather.com/en/pa/panama-city/259549/satellite/259549 (assuming I am interpreting it correctly), Hurricane Otto does appear to be taking a more northerly direction and may not affect us as much as expected. Let's hope. Edited November 23, 2016 by Bonnie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyS Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 20 hours ago, Keith Woolford said: Otto Now A Category 1 Hurricane; Forecast to Make Very Rare Thanksgiving Hurricane Central America Landfall The Hurricane experts at Weather Channel discuss Otto and Central America https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-storm-hurricane-otto-caribbean-central-america-forecast This is what it looked like at 3 p.m. I can't believe the volume of water that's coming down! http://images.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/Active.aspx?storm=1&type=visible&animate=true&enlarge=true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 We had rain in Palo Alto, but not nearly the deluge that I expected and only for a couple of hours. It's only drizzling now. I hope the storm is moving on out. Nobody wants a rainy Thanksgiving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boquete Art Works Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Hi This storm is really erratic in its movements, this early am moving north then it came south some and now seems to be reorganizing and the normal spiral arms of tropical storm/hurricane are sweeping across us. This means rain and potentially a lot of rain in the higher elevations. This can be bad news and rain in the mountains has been the cause of all boquete floods. we did have about 4 hours of sun in Caldera today but now like most of chiriqui it is raining. hopefully its erratic movements stabilize and it goes west. If it comes south it would be a first ever for Panama. Odds are not likely that it will but weather has not been totally cooperating with old models in the past couple of years. chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Admin_01 Posted November 23, 2016 Administrators Share Posted November 23, 2016 Admin_01 Note: With the prior approval of News Lady, the topic of Otto that had been posted (along with its replies) in the News Boquete forum has been merged into this topic. I also merged another topic that was related to the heavy rains here in Panama. The rationale is that there was confusion about where to post, given that there were two simultaneous topics on the same subject. This was the first time that a topic in the News Boquete forum has been moved out of that forum. Hopefully everyone can understand these unusual circumstances. I have also slightly modified the title for this topic to make it a bit more general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyS Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 2 hours ago, Bonnie said: We had rain in Palo Alto, but not nearly the deluge that I expected and only for a couple of hours. It's only drizzling now. I hope the storm is moving on out. Nobody wants a rainy Thanksgiving. You're lucky. In Volcancito we have had a steady downpour for several hours - a real deluge. It's still pouring at 6:30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 (edited) Otto Restrengthens to a Hurricane Otto again became a hurricane Wednesday evening. It is expected to make landfall Thursday along the Central America coast. Story Highlights Otto will landfall in either Nicaragua or Costa Rica on Thanksgiving Day. A hurricane warning is in effect along parts of the Central American coast. Heavy rain, flooding and mudslides are the greatest concerns for Central America. This could be a record latest-in-season hurricane or tropical storm landfall in Nicaragua. Otto will be the first Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to make landfall on Thanksgiving Day. Hurricane Otto continues to strengthen as it moves westward, and it will make an extremely rare late November landfall in Nicaragua or Costa Rica on Thanksgiving Day, posing a danger of flooding and mudslides in parts of Central America. https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-storm-hurricane-otto-caribbean-central-america-forecast Edited November 24, 2016 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted November 24, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 24, 2016 Quote 100 evacuated in Bocas del Toro Posted on November 23, 2016 in Panama Post Views: 171 A HUNDRED people including children, evacuated from their homes in Bocas del Toro earlier in the week, are being housed at hostels in Changuinola and other towns, as well as at a school. Panama officials are working with their counterparts in Costa Rica to monitor the Sixola River, which could pose a danger to residents if it floods. Around 600 emergency workers have been dispatched to Bocas del Toro to assist residents who have been impacted by the storm. Provisions are also being provided. Residents are reminded to avoid any unnecessary travel and that a prohibition on taking out small vessels remains in effect. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/100-evacuated-bocas-del-toro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted November 24, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 24, 2016 Quote 3 dead, 5 missing after Otto storm. Posted on November 23, 2016 in Panama A teenager was killed when a tree fell near his Panama City school Post Views: 162 AT LEAST three people died and five went missing during tropical storm Otto’s visit to Panama earlier this week. Meanwhile the red weather alert issued by the Civil Defense system (SINAPROC), was lifted on Wednesday Nov.23. It was replaced by yellow for Bocas del Toro and green for the rest of the country. School classes will resume Thursday except in Bocas del Toro. Several schools in Colón and the Comarca Guna Yala will also remain closed following damage caused by the rains. A couple died when their Arriajan home was sept away in a landslide. José Donderis, director of Sinaproc, reported that the search is continuing for five people who went missing during Tuesday’s bad weather. One of them went missing in the Utive River in Pacora. another in the collapse of a residence in Nueva Libia. Three others disappeared after their boat sank off the coast of Colón. http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/3-dead-5-missing-otto-storm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 Hurricane Otto is just hours away from making landfall Thursday near the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, posing a danger of flooding and mudslides in parts of Central America. A Hurricane Hunter aircraft investigating Otto Thursday morning has found that it's now a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds. This makes Otto the strongest Atlantic hurricane this late in the season since 1934, according to meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University. (LATEST NEWS: Otto Impacts Central America) The center of Otto will most likely move inland in southern Nicaragua, making it the latest in a calendar year that a hurricane has made landfall in that country. (MORE: Hurricane Central) A hurricane warning continues from Limon, Costa Rica, to Bluefields, Nicaragua. A hurricane watch is in effect for the coast of Nicaragua north of Bluefields to Sandy Bay Sirpi, and for the coast of Costa Rica south of Limon to the Costa Rica/Panama border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsLady Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 from MeteoEarth.com 6:49 am Thursday Nov 24 Admin_01 note: this post was originally in the News Boquete forum, but has been merged into this topic for continuity purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyS Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Now you can see it actually has a small eye. Bad luck for Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 Pardon me while I wax philosophical. I was born and raised in Texas, and not so fondly remember experiencing many hurricanes on the Gulf Coast as a young lad. I don't want to repeat that scenario ever again. And so when I first came to Boquete (2001) and seriously considered moving here, one of the questions I asked was about natural disasters. I was informed that floods and earthquakes are just about all there might be. If you choose to, you could include brush fires as a natural disaster as well; they could result from lightning (or mankind). In these intervening years I had witnessed earthquakes and floods. I can never forget the magnitude 6.5 Puerto Armuelles earthquake that occurred early on Christmas morning of 2003. My house was still under construction and I was staying at Hotel Panamonte. One young girl living near Boquete was killed as I recall from a tree falling on her house. And then one of the big floods was in November 2008. Etc., etc. Well, it turned out that Hurricane Otto, at times a tropical storm, and then a category 1 and for a short period a category 2 hurricane made history. The people of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were the victims. According to press articles, three people died in Panama from the flooding, and there were literally many thousands of people who had to evacuate their homes in all three countries. In the past, we had to depend on the writing skills of witnesses to get a feeling for events in remote places, but with today's technology (a smartphone in everyone's hand) we were able to watch a video clip of three homes in Panama that literally washed away before our eyes from the gushing waters (http://giphy.com/gifs/NUVNMU6CdCHF6/html5). It is my understanding that Hurricane Otto made history in being the strongest and latest in the hurricane season ever to make landfall on Central America. Let's all pray that we never see such an exhibition of the power of Mother Nature again. Otto is now history for most of us reading this, but for many who were not so lucky, they face a major recovery period. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted November 27, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 27, 2016 Quote Panama aids Costa Rica after Hurricane Otto Posted on November 26, 2016 in Panama Post Views: 126 THE FIRST team of 32 Panamanians experienced with natural disasters left for Costa Rica on Friday , November 26. to help that country in recovery efforts from the results of Hurricane Otto. They included 22 officials of the national air service, Senan, 10 from the civil defense agency Sinaproc. Sinaproc Director José Donderis said that Panama will also send two aircraft and two helicopters to help with rescue efforts. Donderis said more aid will be sent if it is needed http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/panama-aids-costa-rica-hurricane-otto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 (edited) The natural disaster and emergency response organization, SINAPROC, reported that in 7 short hours between 7:30 a.m and 2:45 p.m. yesterday, at least 11 landslides were recorded in various parts of the country due to soil saturation from heavy rains. http://impresa.prensa.com/panorama/Derrumbes-secuelas-huracan-Otto_0_4631536918.html Edited November 29, 2016 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 3 hours ago, Keith Woolford said: The natural disaster and emergency response organization, SINAPROC, reported that in 7 short hours between 7:30 a.m and 2:45 p.m. yesterday, at least 11 landslides were recorded in various parts of the country due to soil saturation from heavy rains. http://impresa.prensa.com/panorama/Derrumbes-secuelas-huracan-Otto_0_4631536918.html Someone ran that photo through an editing job with the vibrance parameter cracked up to maximum level! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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