By Kirk Semple and
MEXICO CITY — More than 50 people have died in mudslides around Guatemala, the country’s president said Thursday afternoon, adding to the death toll in Central America from a vast storm system dumping heavy rainfall across the region.
At least 23 other people throughout Central America have died or are missing as a result of the storm, according to news reports.
In central Guatemala, one mudslide alone buried 25 houses with dozens of people trapped inside, President Alejandro Giammattei said at his news conference. The extent of the casualties from that mudslide was unclear.
“Right now we’re trying to get there on foot because we can’t get there any other way,” Mr. Giammattei said. “We’re mobilizing all the support we have.”
Twitter in awe of John Lewis’ Clayton County possibly flipping Georgia against Trump
By early evening Thursday, the weather system was centered 65 miles west-northwest of La Ceiba, a city on the coast of Honduras, and forecasters expected it to move over the northwestern Caribbean by Friday morning before approaching the Cayman Islands on Saturday.
As it has blasted across Central America, the weather system has destroyed houses, flooded villages, toppled trees and knocked out power grids, driving thousands of people out of their homes to seek sanctuary in schools, government buildings, churches and other more secure structures.
In Honduras, at least 11 people have died in various mudslides and in floodwaters, according to wire services and local media. Two people in Nicaragua, both miners working in a remote area of the country, died when they were caught in a mudslide, local media reported.
In Costa Rica, a woman from Puerto Rico and a man from the United States were killed in a mudslide, Reuters reported. And Panamanian officials have said that eight people were missing amid landslides and flooding in the province of Chiriquí, The Associated Press reported.
Recent Comments