Tropical storm death toll rises
Central America reeling under Agatha’s deluge
GUATEMALA CITY – The death toll in Central America from landslides and flooding triggered by the year’s first tropical storm surged to 99 on Sunday, as authorities struggled to clear roads of debris and reach cut-off communities.
Rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Agatha have pounded an area stretching from southern Mexico nearly to Nicaragua. They eased somewhat on Sunday, but rivers continued to rise and word of deaths from landslides was still filtering out from isolated areas.
As of Sunday evening, 112,000 people in Guatemala had been evacuated, many to shelters.
Government disaster relief spokesman David de Leon said 82 people were killed in the poor Central American country as rains unleashed lethal landslides across the country. Another 53 people were reported missing.
Agatha made landfall Saturday near the nation’s border with Mexico as a tropical storm with winds up to 45 mph and was dissipating rapidly Sunday over the mountains of western Guatemala.
In El Salvador, President Mauricio Funes warned that the danger had not yet passed and reported nine deaths.
“Although the storm appears to be diminishing in intensity, the situation across the country remains critical,” Funes said.
In Honduras, eight deaths were linked to the weather.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that remnants of the storm were expected to deliver 10 to 20 inches of rain over southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of El Salvador.
Nervous residents still remember Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which parked over Central America for days, causing flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said 4.3 inches of rain had fallen in Guatemala City’s valley in one 12-hour period.
Rainfall from the Guatemalan interior also flooded rivers coursing away from the storm toward the Atlantic. The Motagua River flooded 19 communities near Guatemala’s northeastern border with Honduras.
In El Salvador, there were at least 140 landslides throughout the country.
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras all declared emergencies designed to increase immediate government aid and resources.
Guatemala City’s La Aurora airport remained closed Sunday because of heavy ash that fell from last week’s eruptions of Pacaya volcano. But volcanic activity had tapered off Sunday, allowing helicopters and small planes to deliver aid to communities still unreachable on washed out roads.