Death toll rises to 28 as Tropical Storm Julia passes through Central America – NBC7 South Florida

Guatemala City – At least 28 deaths left, 14 in Guatemala, four in Honduras, nine in El Salvador, and thousands of victims left the corridor through Central America for Storm Julia.

In the Guatemalan town of Panzos Alta Verapaz, in the north-central part of the country, five people died when they were buried in a landslide after a hill slope separated from their homes, and in Huehuetenango province, nine people died, including a soldier. who died crossing a river during the rescue effort.

So far, Giulia’s passage through Guatemala has caused 167,000 homes to have electricity problems and a hydropower plant damaged, President Alejandro Giamatti told reporters, adding that Mexico had offered to supply power to some areas.

The Guatemalan government is preparing to declare a state of disaster throughout the territory, where it is allowed to limit constitutional guarantees such as mobility and create health belts, as well as centralize aid.

The government ordered the deployment of civilian and military personnel to support the victims, and firefighters and the Red Cross in the affected areas to support the evacuation of hundreds of people. The Education Department has canceled classes and flights from the United States and Mexico to the Central American country have been suspended through Wednesday.

According to official data, Julia, already degraded into a relic, will cross the entire country towards southern Mexico.

In El Salvador, it made landfall on Sunday with torrential rain and sustained winds of 70 kilometers per hour, causing rivers to overflow, trees to fall on highways and inundation of city streets.

At least five soldiers died underground when the wall of a house where they were sheltering from the rain collapsed in the municipality of Comasagua, where for a week more than 2,000 soldiers and about 500 police officers participated in erecting a security fence to persecute gang members in the city. City. Another soldier was wounded.

The authorities also found a dead motorcyclist who had been dragged by a stream in Aminia Municipality, Sonsonate Department. Next to the man was the motorcycle he was being transported on.

A total of 6,469 people were exposed to the elements in two Caribbean cities in Nicaragua as a result of the impact of Hurricane Julia, the local government said.

The National Civil Police confirmed that two people were killed in the municipality of Guateagua in El Salvador, east of the country, after a wall collapsed that destroyed their house.

Meanwhile, a 72-year-old man died in a rural area of ​​Kaluku Municipality, Sonsonat Western Province, when a tree fell on his house, Civil Protection Director Luis Amaya told a press conference. Two other people were injured in the same accident.

Heavy rains caused the Rio Grande, one of the largest in the country, to overflow, and many homes in the Carilo and Brisas del Rio neighborhoods of San Miguel, 135 kilometers from the capital, but there were no reports. Victims because the local authorities alerted them to the danger and most of them left the area.

The water that covered the area reached two meters in height and rescuers had to use small boats to evacuate some of those left behind, and ropes to prevent the current from dragging them.

The director of shelters in El Salvador, Jose Garcia, said that 25 of the 80 shelters that have been equipped have been activated and that about 1,000 people are already receiving care in these facilities.

The Salvadoran government has deployed thousands of soldiers to support evacuation efforts both in the eastern part of the country and in communities in the capital.

The Salvadoran Congress decreed a 15-day national emergency on Saturday night and enabled Civil Protection to carry out mandatory evacuations of at-risk residents.

Capital International Airport imposed restrictions on some operations, but kept commercial flights active Monday morning. Similarly, the Ministry of Education agreed to extend the suspension of classes until Tuesday.

In Honduras, firefighters confirmed the rescue of the body of a 22-year-old woman, who died on Saturday, when she was swept away by a river stream swollen by torrential rain in the northern municipality of Choloma. Similarly, municipal authorities confirmed to the Associated Press that three people, a couple and a 4-year-old girl, died when a boat capsized in the northern municipality of Bruce Laguna.

A total of 6,469 people were exposed to the elements in two Caribbean cities in Nicaragua as a result of the impact of Hurricane Julia, the local government said.

The director of the Honduran Social Investment Fund, Octavio Pineda Paredes, told local media that at least 193 municipalities and 973 highway departments have been affected, and that the western, southern and El Paraíso provinces remain on high alert.

In Nicaragua, dawn on Monday looked clear and sunny in most of the affected areas, although rain continued in the provinces of León and Chinandega, the last areas to be hit by Julia when leaving the national territory.

The mayor of northern Jinotega province, Leonidas Centeno, reported that a 24-year-old man died Sunday in the Las Latas region when a tree fell on him.

The government maintains a state of red alert and on Monday ordered the suspension of classes in all public and private schools, colleges and universities. He also asked the residents to take the necessary precautions due to the floods caused by the rains and the flooding of at least 78 rivers in different parts of the country.

Authorities did not offer a balance on the damage in the Caribbean town of Laguna de Perlas, where the hurricane struck with all its might early Sunday morning and was left without power and completely cut off.

In the Caribbean town of Bluefields, many people have woken up repairing their roofs and cleaning up timber-covered streets and litter. Residents said the city remained without electricity because several trees fell on the power lines and service has not been restored so far.

During a visit to La Guajira to assess the damage, Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed concern about the disruption to ground communications, and proposed a short-term plan for the military to build bridges or alternative emergency roads.

In La Guajira, about 5,000 people were affected by the floods and a public disaster was declared in the province.