The Culebrinas River (Spanish: Río Culebrinas; pron. koo-le-BREE-nahs), is a river in northwest Puerto Rico. It originates in southwestern Lares for 25 miles (40 km) till it empties into the Mona Passage south of downtown Aguadilla. It goes through Lares, San Sebastián, Moca, Aguada and Aguadilla municipalities. It is 37.33 miles long[3] and when it floods causes damage to infrastructure in a number of municipalities.[4]
In the 1898 Military Notes on Puerto Rico by the U.S. it is written that Culebrina River "is bounded on the south and east by the Lares Mountain ridge, and on the north by small hills of little interest. From the Lares Mountains it flows from east to west
and empties on the west coast north of San Francisco de la Aguada, in the center of the bay formed between Point Peñas Blancas and Point San Francisco."[7]
In late May, 2019 multiple areas in various municipalities suffered flooding, felled trees, landslides and closed highways when Río Culebrinas flooded. In San Sebastián, a road caved in.[4] There is a bridge on PR-438 that goes over the Culebrinas River in barrio Magos and when the river floods the road is closed.[9]
In mid 2018, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its list of projects for Puerto Rico. $400,000 was earmarked to study how to reduce damage caused by a flooding Río Culebrinas.[10]
^"Los Ríos"(PDF). Hojas de Nuestro Ambiente. Puerto Rico: DRNA. February 1, 2007. Archived from the original(PDF) on April 1, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
^Van Deusen, Richard James; Elizabeth Kneipple Van Deusen (1931). Porto Rico: A Caribbean Isle. H. Holt. p. 48. OCLC569158.
^U.S. Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, Writers' Program (1940). Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquén. The University Society. p. 68. OCLC245805.
