SAN JOSE (AFP) – Rescue brigades have recovered three more bodies of people who died in a huge mid-week mudslide triggered by heavy rain, raising the death toll to 23, the Costa Rican Red Cross has said.

Only one person is still missing and believed to be buried under the debris after a wave of mud and rocks early Thursday slammed into some 30 homes in San Antonio de Escazu, a southwestern suburb of Costa Rica's capital.

According to the Red Cross, more than 2,000 people across the country are in temporary shelters due to heavy rain which the government said has been more damaging than anything similar in more than a decade.

Several communities in this Central American nation remain isolated due to destroyed bridges, highway damage and roads blocked by landslides.

The National Emergencies Commission on Saturday worked on flying food, water and supplies to cut-off areas using airplanes and helicopters on loan from other countries, including Guatemala, Panama and Colombia.

Floods and landslides have killed some 300 people across Central America in this year's especially damaging and wet rainy season, which stretches from May to November.