The storms and heavy rains that have hit Central America since last weekend have generated at least 30 deaths and thousands of evacuees, while constant downpours flood rivers, destroy homes, cause landslides and isolate entire communities.
In The Savior, The number of deceased people amounts to 19, six of them minors, while 3,087 remain in shelters, Luis Alonso Amaya, the director of Civil Protection, reported on Friday.
“People’s lives must be saved. The material goods will come at other times, we will look for how to resolve it,” Amaya told reporters. The authorities have declared red and orange alert in different parts of the country, waiting for more rain in the coming hours. According to the Regulations of the Civil Protection Law, the red alert is activated when the event has had a “severe” impact, producing a disaster situation.
The Salvadoran Parliament also declared the national state of emergency for 15 days due to weather conditions. The measure empowers institutions to manage funds and channel them in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis. In addition, it allows you to make acquisitions and promote purchasing processes necessary to address the situation in an agile manner.
In Guatemalathe death toll stands at 10, nearly 11,000 people have been evacuated, some 380 remain in temporary shelters and 300 homes are reported to have suffered severe damage, as well as the destruction of four bridges.
The neighbor Honduras reported one death and more than 1,200 people evacuated (about 300 in the last 24 hours). The rains there have isolated 180 communities and destroyed 22 houses, authorities added.
In Mexico About 80 people were evacuated from a children’s hospital in the southern state of Oaxaca on Thursday, but the rains also brought the beginning of the expected recovery of dams affected by the national drought, currently at around a third of their capacity.
The rains were due to low pressure troughs and a monsoon trough that brought in humid air, according to meteorologists. The system gained strength from the remains of Alberto, the first named tropical storm of the hurricane season, which left at least four dead in the north of the country this week.
The US National Hurricane Center has predicted that heavy rain would continue through Friday in southern Mexico and northern Central America, causing thunderstorms and downpours as far south as Costa Rica and Panama during the weekend.
(With information from AP and Reuters)
