Intense rains falling since Saturday in Central America have caused the death of at least 13 people in El Salvador and Guatemala, the authorities of the two countries announced on Monday June 17 in a new report showing thousands of victims after floods and mudslides.
In El Salvador, the most affected country, five people died on Monday during a landslide in the department of Ahuachapan (South-West), according to the director of civil protection, Luis Amaya. A previous report reported three deaths. Mr. Amaya added at a press conference that two other people died Monday in a traffic accident after hitting a tree that had fallen on the road. On Sunday, another motorist lost his life in similar circumstances. Three other deaths were recorded in direct relation to the heavy rains, said Mr. Amaya.
The environment ministry warned that the rains would continue and called on the population to be extremely vigilant. The president, Nayib Bukele, announced on his X account that he had asked Parliament to declare on Tuesday ” public holiday “ in order to “reduce the risk of tragedy” in employee travel. The state of emergency was declared by the government to facilitate the mobilization of resources.
The rains will continue
In Guatemala, a couple died on Sunday in the municipality of Sacapulas (West), buried under a wall collapsed by rainwater, local civil protection reported.
According to a report from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States, rains will continue in Central America and southern Mexico because “a large area of low pressure forms over the Bay of Campeche” And “a tropical depression is expected to form mid-week over the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico”.
Every year, the rainy season claims many lives in Central America, one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change.
Heavy rains also fell in the Amazon and Andean regions of Ecuador, wreaking havoc in 10 of the country’s 24 provinces, where landslides and floods were reported. A landslide on Sunday in a tourist area near the Cotopaxi volcano left seven dead and 22 injured.