Torrential rain puts nation on the edge
SAN SALVADOR: Tropical Storm Amanda triggered flash floods, landslides and power outages as it barrelled through El Salvador and Guatemala, killing at least 17 people.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared a 15day state of emergency to cope with the effects of the storm, which he estimated to have caused $200 million in damage.
Amanda, the first major storm of the season in the region, unleashed torrents of floodwater that tossed vehicles around like toys and damaged about 200 homes, the head of the Civil Protection Service William Hernandez said.
Most of the fatalities were in El Salvador, with warnings the death toll could rise.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented situation — one top-level emergency on top of another serious one,” San Salvador mayor Ernesto Muyshondt said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.
About half of those killed died in the capital, and 7000 people had sought refuge in government-run shelters after losing their homes or being forced to leave because they were in high-risk areas.
Officials said a quarter of the rain that the country normally receives in a year fell in just 70 hours.
That set off landslides and flooding, especially in the western part of the country.
In some flooded areas, soldiers worked alongside emergency personnel to rescue people.
“We lost everything, we’ve been left with nowhere to live,” said Isidro Gomez, a resident of hard-hit southeastern San Salvador, after a nearby river overflowed and destroyed his home.
Another victim, Mariano Ramos, said that at dawn residents of his San Salvador neighbourhood were slammed by an avalanche of mud and water.
An elderly man died in the area, officials said.
El Salvador’s environment ministry warned residents of the “high probability” of multiple landslides that could damage buildings and injure or kill people.
Nearly 90 per cent of El Salvador’s 6.6 million people are considered vulnerable to flooding and landslides due to its geography.
In neighbouring Guatemala, a nine-year-old boy was swept away by a river and drowned and another person was killed when a home collapsed.
Officials said roads had been blocked by at least five landslides and flooding was reported, but no evacuations were under way.
Mr Bukele visited one of the most affected communities on the outskirts of San Salvador and said the government would give them money to rebuild.
One whose home was damaged was Maria Torres.
“We’ve never experienced this,” she said. “The rain was so strong and suddenly the water entered the homes and we just saw how they fell.”
The legislative assembly approved a $A583 million loan from the International Monetary Fund to help deal with the pandemic and the storm.