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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Flooding, Mudslides Leave 130 Dead in El
Salvador
SAN SALVADOR – Emergency services agencies
in El Salvador began clearing away mud and
rubble Monday while searching for more
victims after a weekend of heavy rains, due
in part to Hurricane Ida, left 130 dead.
Interior Minister Humberto Centeno said that
among the fatalities “there are
approximately 49 minors” including a
2-year-old.
Emergency management chief Jorge Melendez
said that 108 mudslides have been reported
nationwide, 209 houses have been completely
destroyed and 18 bridges were damaged.
Authorities have prepared 87 shelters where
10,348 people have sought refuge, he added.
“Today we have to undertake the
search-and-rescue work,” the governor of San
Vicente province, Manuel Castellanos, said
on the state radio station. His region was
among the hardest hit by floods and
mudslides.
He said that the towns of Guadalupe,
Tepetitan and Verapaz suffered the most
damage.
The governor said that 600 San Vicente
residents remain missing in the wake of the
disaster and that at least 200 people will
take part in the rescue work, with help
expected from neighboring Guatemala.
President Mauricio Funes planned a visit
Monday to the areas most affected by the
tragedy, which he declared a national
emergency.
“The pictures we’ve seen today are those of
devastated nation. The magnitude of the
damage is as yet incalculable,” the
president said in a message to Salvadorans
on Sunday night, and described the day “as
one of the most tragic” within the country’s
living memory.
Government meteorologists said the rains
“have begun to slacken across the country,”
though forecasts Monday predicted cloudy
skies along the coast and in the highlands,
where isolated low-intensity squalls were
expected. EFE
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