Guatemala searches, Eta regains storm status, heads to Cuba
PURULHA, Guatemala — Searchers in Guatemala dug through mud looking for an estimated 100 people believed buried by a massive, rain-fueled landslide, as Tropical Storm Eta continued to gain strength Saturday and churned toward Cuba.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Eta was located about 165 miles west-southwest of Camaguey, Cuba, Saturday and was moving northeast at 147 mph with winds of 65 mph. The storm was expected to approach the Cayman Islands, be near Cuba Saturday night and Sunday, and approach the Florida Keys or south Florida late Sunday.
Tropical storm warnings were issued for central Cuba, southern Florida and the Florida Keys. The hurricane center said flash floods could occur in the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, the Bahamas and southern Florida.
Back in Central America, which Eta reached as a Category 4 hurricane Tuesday before weakening into a tropical depression, authorities from Panama to Mexico were still surveying the damages from flooding and landslides following days of torrential rains. The confirmed death toll was in the dozens and expected to rise.
On Friday, search teams in Guatemalan pulled the first bodies from a landslide in San Cristobal Verapaz, but the work was slow and help was trickling in. Teams first had to overcome multiple landslides and deep mud just to reach the site where officials have estimated some 150 homes were devastated.
In the village of Quejá, where a hillside collapsed onto homes, rescue workers used a helicopter to evacuate survivor Emilio Caal. He suffered a dislocated shoulder when the landslide sent rocks, trees and earth hurtling onto the home where he was about to sit down to lunch with his wife and grandchildren. Caal said he was blown several yards by the force of the slide, and that none of the others were able to get out.
“My wife is dead, my grandchildren are dead,” said Caal from a nearby hospital.
In southern Mexico, across the border from Guatemala, 20 people died as heavy rains attributed to Eta caused mudslides and swelled streams and rivers, according to Chiapas state civil defense official Elías Morales Rodríguez.
The worst incident in Mexico occurred in the mountain township of Chenalho, where 10 people were swept away by a rain-swollen stream; their bodies were later found downstream.