Tropical storm killed 144 people in Central America by Magdalena Rosova

Guatemala had a devastating weekend, a volcanic eruption on Thursday was followed by a tropical storm two days later. Strong storm hit whole area of Central America on Saturday. Guatemala was hit the most, some regions of the countries had a meter of rainfall. Whole area around the southern town of San Antonio Palopo was covered with a huge mudslide. Guatemala evacuated 74,000 people. Weather forecasts warns that heavy rainfall will continue in the coming days. The storm came just two days after the eruption of the Pacaya volcano. Many towns and villages are buried under the ash five centimeters thick. The ash is slowing down evacuation procedures and worsening the floods. ! The storm has killed at least 144 people, most victims are from Guatemala. Rescuers are searching through the ash and mud, up to 50 people are still missing. Red Cross based in Panama reported 118 dead in Guatemala, 17 in Honduras, 9 in El Salvador. Chief of Red Cross Paco Maldonado expects the numbers to grow. Most of the deaths were caused by landslides which caused collapses of buildings. Among the victims in Guatemala there were four children in a house that was swept away in a landslide. Tens of thousands of people are in shelters because they had lost their homes or they had been evacuated. International aid is on the way to affected countries. Some organizations even turned to Facebook and other social networking sites and appealed for necessities. France has already sent humanitarian supplies. Mexican President Felipe Calderon offered the airport in the border city for emergency flights in and out of Guatemala.

related story (sgx17454): http://www.france24.com/en/20100601-death-toll-continues-cli...

by Magdalena Rosova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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