Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Stan leaves at least 120 dead in Central America
Associated Press
Published October 6, 2005
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Heavy rains pounded Central America for a fourth day Wednesday, pushing rivers over their banks, flooding communities and unleashing at least two deadly mudslides as the region's death toll surpassed 120.
Hurricane Stan, which had helped spawn rainstorms in Central America, weakened to a depression over the southern state of Oaxaca on Wednesday, a day after making landfall along Mexico's Gulf Coast. But punishing rains continued in parts of Central America and southern Mexico.
In Guatemala, a mudslide near the internationally popular tourist destination of Lake Atitlan, about 60 miles west of the capital, Guatemala City, buried several houses. It was not clear how many people were caught in the slide, said Carlos Santizo, chief of the Solola volunteer fire department.
An AP photographer on site said he saw at least 12 bodies recovered, bringing the death toll in Guatemala alone to at least 50, and the total number of confirmed victims to more than 120 throughout the region.
Flooding in scores of Guatemalan communities forced the evacuation of more than 6,000 residents. Nearly all of the country's rivers overflowed, while landslides and fallen trees blocked at least 30 roadways. Most of the victims were killed in landslides, national disaster agency officials said.
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger called on Congress to declare a national state of emergency, allowing the government to force evacuations of dangerous areas, set prices on emergency supplies and provide federal coordination of relief efforts.
"But we're only going to do all of this if it is absolutely necessary," Berger said.
In the Salvadoran capital, San Salvador, at least 50 people were killed by four days of mudslides and flooding. More than 16,700 Salvadorans had fled their homes for 167 shelters nationwide.
Nine people died in storm-related storms in Nicaragua, including six migrants believed to be Ecuadoreans killed in a boat wreck. Four deaths were reported in Honduras and one in Costa Rica.
[Last modified October 6, 2005, 01:15:08]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
