NEWS: At Least 254 Dead in Central America

Hundreds of people are missing in Central America, as villages in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Southern Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, were wiped out by mudslides following Hurricane Stan. Despite being downgraded to a tropical depression, Stan caused major flash flooding and landslides, devastating entire villages in some cases. Thousands of people have been evacuated in El Salvador and Guatemala, while others await rescue. Collapsed bridges, blocked roads and mudslides are making it difficult for rescuers to find and assist survivors. In Guatemala, where there are at least 146 dead, hundreds are still missing. The Guatemalan president wants to call a State of Emergency. The combined death toll stands at 254 and is expected to rise.



That storms can have such impact, even downgraded to tropical depressions, is sadly evidenced in Central America, where many are dying or missing due to mudslides. Having watched two major hurricanes hit the US in the last month, this is sad news indeed, especially for Guatemalan and El Salvador villages that have been wiped out and for those who people have had to evacuate their homes. My thoughts are with rescuers and survivors.

Death toll and flood waters still rising there.

Sat image of Central America

The landslide that buried several communities near the popular tourist destination of Lake Atitlan was believed to be the worst single disaster in several days of flooding that have killed at least 373 in Central America and southern Mexico. ABC

An update to this story. The death toll in Guatemala has now risen to 613.

SANTIAGO ATITLAN, Guatemala (AP) - Dozens of Mayan Indians used hand tools to dig through hardening mud on Saturday, searching for bodies under a landslide that swallowed a Guatemalan neighborhood and pushed the regionwide death toll from a week of pounding rains to 613.

The Guardian

It looks like an entire village was buried in mud and they'll just declare the whole site a grave:

Rescuers have given up. The 1,400 Maya Indians from Panabaj are left to lie forever encased in a tomb of mud.


R.I.P.

Helmutt,

Very sad indeed.

Another update which puts the figure at possibly 2000 dead. With up to 160,000 people affected in some way or another.

The search for survivors of Tropical Storm Stan has been called off in Guatemala, where the official death toll stands at 652. But the figure could reach 2,000, as entire communities were engulfed by landslides and mud, officials say.

They say continuing the search is too risky and have called for a number of communities to be declared mass graves.

Another 131 people are known to have died elsewhere in Central America and Mexico as a result of the storm.

news.bbc.co.uk...