Torrential rains lash Central America, claim at least 30 lives

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — At least 30 people died and thousands were forced to evacuate their homes as storms and heavy rainfall lashed Central America, local officials said, with the downpours flooding rivers, destroying homes, triggering landslides and cutting off communities.

In Mexico, authorities forecast heavy rain across most of the country and torrential downpours across sections of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, as well as further inland, bringing lightning, strong winds, possible hail and flooding around rivers.

The rains caused authorities to evacuate about 80 people from a children's hospital in Oaxaca state on Thursday, but also brought welcome replenishment to drought-hit reservoirs across the country, now at about a third of their capacity.

Mexico's Conagua water authority warned of wind speeds of up to 70 kilometers an hour and waves of up to 3 meters around the Gulf and Caribbean coasts. Equally strong winds on the Pacific side could bring tornadoes, it said.

In El Salvador, the death toll had reached 19, among them six children, and more than 3,000 people were in temporary shelters, authorities said on Friday.

"We must save people's lives," said Luis Amaya, who heads El Salvador's civil protection agency. "Material goods come and go, but now we must focus on protecting lives."

Honduras reported one death and more than 1,200 people evacuated — about 300 in the previous 24 hours. The rains had cut off 180 communities and destroyed 22 homes, authorities said.

The rains were due to low-pressure channels interacting together across much of the country, as well as a monsoon trough drawing in moist ocean air from well into the North Pacific, the US National Hurricane Center said, boosted by remnants of Alberto, the Atlantic hurricane season's first named tropical storm.

Alberto caused at least four deaths as it passed over northeast Mexico last week.

The continuous rainfall in Central America last week was due to the influence of several low-pressure systems in the region, experts said.

Agencies - Xinhua