Weakened Eta drenches Honduras; could reach gulf
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS » The rain-heavy remains of Hurricane Eta flooded homes from Panama to Guatemala on Thursday as the death toll across Central America rose to at least 19. Forecasters said the oncemighty storm was expected to regather form and head toward Cuba and possibly the Gulf of Mexico by early next week.
The storm that hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday had become more of a vast tropical rainstorm, but it was advancing so slowly and dumping so much rain that much of Central America remained on high alert.
Eta had sustained winds of 30 mph and was moving northwest at 9 mph Thursday. It was centered 80 miles south of La Ceiba, Honduras.
Guatemala authorities reported four dead Thursday, adding to 13 victims in Honduras and two in Nicaragua. Panamanian authorities reported eight missing.
Two children died when their home collapsed under heavy rains in the central Guatemala department of Quiche, according to a statement by local firefighters. A third person also died in Quiche, but details were not immediately available. President Alejandro Giammattei confirmed a fourth death in a landslide in Chinautla north of the capital Wednesday night.
Homes damaged
On Thursday, he said on local radio that 60% of the eastern city of Puerto Barrios was flooded and 48 more hours of rain were expected. Authorities reported nearly 100 homes damaged by flooding and landslides in Guatemala.
Honduras’ National Police said Thursday that six more bodies had been found, bringing the country’s toll to 13. The bodies of two adults and two children were found after excavations in a mudslide that occurred Wednesday in the township of Gualala, and two boys ages 8 and 11 died in another mudslide in the township of El Níspero.
Earlier, residents found the body of a girl buried in a landslide Wednesday in mountains outside the north coast city of Tela. In the same area, a large landslide buried a home with a mother and two children inside it, according to Honduras Fire Department spokesman ”scar Triminio
Triminio said there was also a 2-year-old girl killed in the Santa Barbara department when she and her mother were swept away by floodwaters. The mother survived.
Heavy rain was forecast to continue across Honduras through at least Thursday as Eta moved toward the northern city of San Pedro Sula.
Much of the town of Villanueva, just south of San Pedro Sula, was under floodwaters as Thursday dawned. The Ulua river overwhelmed its banks, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.