Death toll rises as rain pounds Central America

Rescue workers in Guatemala say they have pulled at least 40 bodies from a massive mudslide and found 20 more dead in a swollen river, raising to 246 the number of people killed from five days of pounding rains in Central America and Mexico.

Officials expected the death to toll to climb today as they searched for more than 150 others who were missing following the landslide in Solola, a town close to Lake Atitlan, 60 miles west of the capital, Guatemala City.

Along the country’s Pacific coast, the Nahualate River broke from its banks, creating a new outlet to the sea and killing at least 20 people from a small, seaside village, navy chiefs said.

Claudio Manchinel, from Iztapa in coastal, southern Guatemala, was forced to walk for hours through rain and mud with his pregnant wife, Leticia. Upon reaching a highway, the couple stopped an ambulance, which took them to a naval base, where their son Claudio was born.

Manchinel said the flooding reminded him of Hurricane Mitch, which killed t least 9,000 people throughout Central America in 1998.

“We thought it was going to be like Mitch in 1998,” he said Thursday. “But now it’s worse.”

The number killed in the region stood at 246, including 14 victims earlier this week in Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, and 13 victims who died in three southern Mexican states.

President Oscar Berger said yesterday that 134 people had been killed across Guatemala and nearly 31,500 residents evacuated.

Emergency response officials said the president’s tally did not include the at-least-20 fatalities naval officials reported to The Associated Press from the new outlet flood waters created on the Pacific Coast, however, meaning the total figure had actually climbed to 154.

For the first time in five days, rains let up yesterday, allowing Berger to fly over devastated areas and evaluate damage.

In Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city, 125 miles west of the capital, flood waters rose up 6.5ft high, destroying hundreds of homes, businesses and public buildings, firefighters said.

More than 24,000 people from 270 communities took refuge in shelters throughout Guatemala, but were suffering from cold and a lack of food and water, according to Guatemalan radio reports. Quetzaltenango residents reported a similarly critical situation.

“It was complicated arriving with new shipments of food” because of the bad weather, said Agriculture Minister Alvaro Aguilar. “Today, we are making an effort” to reach the areas by air.

Guatemalan rescue workers also were trying to restore access to 300 roadways blocked by fallen trees, flooding and landslides.

In El Salvador, where the heavy rains have left 65 dead, rescuers also stepped up aid flights and flyovers as the sun emerged from behind the clouds.

Authorities also were on alert for new landslides and flooded rivers similar to those that already had closed or destroyed dozens of roads and bridges. Officials said nearly 54,000 people had been evacuated to 370 shelters throughout the country, while nearly 80% of the country’s roadways had been affected by the rains.

“The rain stopped, rays of sun have begun to warm the country, but the danger continues,” said Salvadoran Red Cross spokesman Carlos Lopez Mendoza. “The ground is saturated and we could have more tragedies.”

Among the Salvadorans evacuated were residents of Santa Tecla, outside the capital, San Salvador, where a strong earthquake caused a massive landslide in January 2001.

The Mexican Air Force is preparing to deliver 220 tons of food and 33 tons of emergency supplies to El Salvador. Mexican president Vicente Fox said his country acted in response to a personal plea from Salvadoran president Tony Saca.

Fox also said two planes loaded with 40 tons of aid would fly out to southern areas of Mexico devastated by the rains.

The US said it was donating £55,500 in household items to Mexico and would also offer humanitarian aid to Guatemala and other Central American countries. Mexican troops recently returned from several weeks of helping US officials clean up after Hurricane Katrina.