Hurricane Eta has been deadly as it makes it way through Central America. The meteorological phenomenon has caused more than 60 deaths, thousands of victims and a persistent rain that keeps Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala on red alert.
The tropical storm is moving slowly over Honduras and Guatemala, similar to the disastrous Mitch in 1998, when it downgraded to a storm and stagnated in the region. Like Mitch, the cyclone’s rains continue and saturation of the soil has caused flooding and landslides.
In Guatemala, President Alejandro Giammattei reported that at least 50 people died this Thursday in a couple of landslides in the Alta Verapaz and Huehuetenango departments, in the north of the country. “Among the avalanches that are occurring in the Huehuetenango area and in the San Cristobal Verapaz area (in the Alta Verapaz department) where we are trying to reach the Queja village, there are estimated 25 houses buried by the avalanche,” he explained. the mandatary.
All the precariousness that Central America is experiencing has come to light with the presence of cyclone Eta. Honduras is one of the countries most affected by the floods.
Until this Thursday, the Government reported 11 people dead, more than a thousand families affected, 578 families evacuated and about 2,788 people assisted in 41 shelters.
The red alert has remained on indefinitely, according to President Juan Orlando Hernández. For now, Honduran airports have been closed, and the Ramón Villeda Morales international runway in San Pedro Sula is under water.
At the same time, material damage is considerable in Honduras. In the cities of San Pedro Sula and La Lima, department of Cortes, there have been dramatic scenes of residents trapped by the floods.
Some of the affected inhabitants have decided to climb on the roofs of their house and wait to be rescued. “We didn’t get anything because we didn’t get a chance, when the cars came, you couldn’t enter. Suddenly the water bomb came, as if it were a wave, “said the injured Alexis Padilla to the Honduran media Countercurrent. In Cortés, the Ulúa River also overflowed and the historic Pimienta Bridge fell.
Although the tropical storm did not pass near Costa Rica, it has caused indirect damage in that country. The Costa Rican National Emergency Commission (CNE) warned of swollen rivers. Some 1,361 people have been relocated to 28 shelters in the provinces of Guanacaste and Puntarenas, located on the Pacific coast.
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