GUATEMALA: At least 74 people confirmed killed by heavy flooding from Tropical Storm Agatha

Record ID: 699057

  • Title: GUATEMALA: At least 74 people confirmed killed by heavy flooding from Tropical Storm Agatha
  • Date: 1st June 2010
  • Summary: INTERIOR OF A CLASSROOM WHICH IS BEING USED AS A SHELTER PEOPLE RESTING ON MATTRESS GIRL IN THE SHELTER BOY SMILING AND WAVING
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guatemala
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA4IIOWC7R893R4EVW275VLZPCV
  • Story Text: At least 74 people were confirmed dead in Guatemala on Sunday (May 30), a day after Tropical Storm Agatha slammed into the Central American country.
    More than 74,000 people have fled their homes.
    In the small hamlet of La Canada, near the city of Amatitlan, Gilberto Garzon, a local resident, said he was forced to flee by the flooding and debris.
    "This is just a normal little road, but eventually it began to grow and brought down all these rocks and sticks. It was terrible because one could hear the screams of many people. We had to flee to higher ground," he said.
    Agatha, the first named storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, slammed into the Guatemalan coast near the border with Mexico on Saturday.
    Gerson Cruz, another local resident, said that he had never seen destruction on the same scale.
    "I've been living here for around eight years, and nothing like this has ever happened. There were some five or ten homes here, but now it's a disaster. My house is nearby, it almost collapsed. The back walls are broken," he said.
    At least 14 people were believed dead in the town of San Antonio Palopo, 90 miles (160 km) southeast of the capital, Guatemala City, after a huge mudslide engulfed an entire neighborhood.
    Rescue workers scrambled to restore communications to towns and villages cut off by landslides where other victims were feared.
    The intense rainfall has sparked concern over the condition of the coffee crop in Guatemala, the region's biggest producer, as well as in El Salvador, where the rains fell heaviest in the principal coffee-growing region.
    The storm dissipated overnight as it crossed the western mountains of Guatemala but emergency workers warned residents to expect heavy rain for several more days.
    Swollen rivers burst their banks and mudslides buried homes in towns and cities alike. A highway bridge near Guatemala City was swept away by the floodwaters and sinkholes opened up in the capital where many neighborhoods remained without electricity.
    More than 3 feet (1 metre) of rain fell in parts of Guatemala, said President Alvaro Colom.
    Central America is vulnerable to heavy rains due to mountainous terrain and poor communications in rural areas. Last November's Hurricane Ida caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 150 people as it moved past the region.
    Guatemalan officials warned the flooding from the storm could be worsened by ash spewing out of the Pacaya volcano that has blocked drainage systems.
    The volcano, which erupted on Thursday, had already closed the country's main international airport and aviation officials do not expect to finish cleaning ash and debris off the tarmac until at least Tuesday.
    The volcano remained active on Sunday but the intensity of the eruption appeared to be diminishing, civil defense officials said.
    Pacaya has been active since the 1960s but had not ejected rocks and ash since 1998.
    The volcano, 25 miles (40 km) south of Guatemala City, is close to some of Guatemala's most prized coffee plantations.
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