At least 19 people died from the passage of the ferocious storm Giulia in Central America, while relief and reconstruction activities continue in the various affected countries. According to the latest estimates, five of the deceased come from Guatemala, four from Honduras and nine from El Salvador.
In the Guatemalan city of Panzós Alta Verapaz, in the north-central part of the country, Five people died when they were buried in an avalanche of land after a hill landslide on their homes, authorities said Monday. According to the latest figures, Julia left 153,034 affected and 1,600 homeless in Guatemala.
Faced with this devastating scenario, the Guatemalan government is preparing to declare a state of calamity throughout the territory, with which it is allowed to limit constitutional guarantees such as locomotion and establish sanitary cordons, as well as centralize aid.
“The damage that Julia is causing is copious, we expect very abundant rains”, explained president Alejandro Giammattei through his social networks.
The government ordered the deployment of civilian and military personnel to support the victims and the firefighters and the Red Cross are in the affected areas supporting the evacuation of hundreds of people. The Ministry of Education has canceled classes and flights deported from the United States and Mexico to the Central American country have been suspended until Wednesday.
According to official data from Guatemala’s National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), the storm will sweep across the entire country towards southern Mexico.
Five soldiers died in El Salvador
In El Salvador, he landed on Sunday with heavy showers and sustained winds at 70 kilometers per hour that caused rivers to overflow, trees to fall on roads and flood city streets.
At least five soldiers died buried when the wall of a house collapsed where they sheltered from the rain in the municipality of Comasagua, where for a week over 2,000 soldiers and about 500 policemen have participated in a security barrier to persecute members of the gangs in the area. Another soldier was wounded.
Authorities also identified a dead motorcyclist who was dragged by a current in the municipality of Amania, department of Sonsonate. Next to the man was the motorcycle on which he was being transported.
In the Salvadoran municipality of Guatajiagua, in the east of the country, two people died after a wall collapsed which destroyed their homeconfirmed the National Civil Police.
Meanwhile, in a rural area of the municipality of Caluco, western department of Sonsonate, a 72-year-old man died when a tree fell on his home, the director of Civil Protection, Luis Amaya, told a press conference. Two other people were injured in the same accident.
The director of the reception centers in El Salvador, Josué Garcia, said that 25 of the 80 shelters that have been prepared have been activated and that about 1,000 people are already receiving treatment in these structures.
The Salvadoran government deployed thousands of soldiers to support evacuation efforts both in the eastern part of the country and in the communities of the capital.
The Salvadoran Congress decreed a state of national emergency for 15 days on Saturday night and authorized the Civil Protection to carry out mandatory evacuations of populations at risk. The capital’s international airport limited some operations, but kept commercial flights on Monday morning.
Honduras and Nicaragua, on alert
In Honduras, firefighters confirmed the rescue of the corps in the northern municipality of Choloma a 22-year-old woman who died on Saturday when she was swept away by the current of a river that has swelled due to heavy rains. Similarly, the municipal authorities confirmed to AP the death of three people, a couple and a 4-year-old girl, due to the overturning of a canoe in the northern municipality of Brus Laguna.
In Nicaragua, Monday was clear and sunny in most of the affected regions, although it continued to rain in the departments of León and Chinandega, the last areas Julia hit when she left the country.
The mayor of the northern department of Jinotega, Leónidas Centeno, reported that a 24-year-old man died on Sunday in the community of Las Latas when a tree fell on him.
The government maintains the state of red alert and for this Monday it ordered the suspension of lessons in all public and private schools, colleges and universities. It also asked the population to take precautions due to flooding caused by rain and the overflow of at least 78 rivers in different areas of the country.
Thousands of people affected by the floods in Colombia
The passage of Julia Colombia has also wreaked havoc in the north of the country due to heavy rains and gusts of wind, especially in the department of La Guajira, which borders the Caribbean Sea to the north and Venezuela to the east, where President Gustavo Petro will arrive on Monday to assess the damage.
In La Guajira near 5,000 people were affected by the floods and a public calamity was declared in the department.
According to local authorities, even in Atlántico, a department located in northern Colombia, there were floods in several cities and over 1,000 victims.
Source AP
Source: Clarin
