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AP Photo/Fernando Antonio
A landslide caused by heavy rains at the Pan American an highway La Cuesta de la Moramulca, 52 Km. from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011.
Central America
Heavy rains kill at least 84 in Central America
El Salvador and Nicaragua declared natural disasters yesterday, as landslides and floods continue to devastate the region.
A WEEK OF heavy rains across Central America have caused landslides, floods and bridge collapses that have left at least 84 people dead, according to authorities.
Nine others are missing.
El Salvador’s director of civil protection, Jorge Melendez, said the rain will continue until at least Wednesday because of the presence of two low pressure systems in the area.
The amount of rain over the last week exceeds the cumulative record of Hurricane Mitch, which devastated the region in 1998, killing 11,000 people, Melendez said.
El Salvador and Nicaragua declared natural disasters yesterday.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom reached out to congress to speed budget decisions to funnel money for the affected.
In El Salvador, 32 people have been killed because of the rains, while Guatemala added 31 fatalities. Another 13 people were killed in Honduras, and Nicaragua’s First Lady and spokesman Rosario Murillo said eight have died in Nicaragua.
The United Nations estimates that 100,000 people have been affected by the flooding, and has classed Central America to be of one the parts of the globe most heavily affected by climate change.
