Tropical storm claims 100 lives
Tropical Storm Agatha, the first in a season of tempests that annually strikes the region, was especially brutal in Guatemala, where mudslides proved deadly.
According to authorities, the toll across the region yesterday stood at 105, counting the 82 in Guatemala, 14 in Honduras and nine in El Salvador.
Tens of thousands of people were in shelters, either because their homes had been destroyed or they were evacuated from the path of possible flooding. International aid was beginning to step up.
France said it was sending humanitarian supplies, and issued a statement expressing its “condolences” to the affected countries.
Colombia and the United States offered to send aircraft to ferry aid or help with evacuations of storm-hit areas.
In Guatemala, which has been under a state of emergency since Saturday, 112,000 people were forced to flee their homes at peril of floods and mudslides.
