Jan Wesner Childs
Homes have been swept away by water and mud, communities inundated with flooding and dozens of people killed after what is now Tropical Depression Eta dumped more than 22 inches of rain on parts of Central America.
Estimates of the number of dead continued to rise Friday as dozens of people were presumed dead in devastating landslides that sent waves of mud rushing down hillsides. The overall toll of Eta's wrath likely won't be known for days as emergency crews search through debris and reports filter in from isolated communities.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei estimated Friday that at least 100 people were dead in San Cristobal Verapaz, in the central part of the country, The Associated Press reported. Rescuers on Friday morning reached the site of a massive landslide where at least 150 homes were thought to have been buried.
Giammattei had previously announced that at least 37 people had been killed in Guatemala.
Local authorities said the death toll in Honduras rose to at least 21 people Friday, according to the AP, although the country's emergency management agency had confirmed only eight.
“We know there are a lot of dead people, we’ve seen them, but until we receive official information we can’t certify them,” explained Marvin Aparicio, head of the agency’s incident command system. “In the coming hours, we are going to start to see, to our regret, Dante-esque scenes of people found dead."
Thirteen deaths have been reported in Honduras and two in Nicaragua.
There were also reports of deaths in Costa Rica and Panama.
The Honduras National Police posted video Friday morning of a woman being rescued as she clung to a tree amid rushing floodwaters.
One police officer reportedly saved 14 people in the Sula Valley, in the northwest part of the country.
About 500 people were rescued from rooftops where they had climbed to escape the rising waters Thursday.
“We will not leave the area until we rescue the last person,” Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez told reporters, according to Reuters.
Rescue efforts continued overnight by police, soldiers and firefighters.
Marta Julia Portillo, 62, fled her home in the San Pedro Sula neighborhood Thursday. Her son, who stayed behind, later told her the water was up to the third floor, according to the AP.
“We don’t know where to go because we don’t have any place to shelter,” Portillo said.
Aid agencies said the situation is dire.
“I would say the national capacity has been overwhelmed by the size of the impact we are seeing,” said Maite Matheu, Honduras director for the international humanitarian organization CARE.
About 60 fishermen stranded at sea off the coast of Honduras as the storm neared landfall Tuesday were rescued. They had taken shelter on small islands off the coast.
Across Honduras, floodwaters have destroyed more than 450 homes, according to Marvin Aparicio, a spokesman for the country's emergency management agency, COPECO. More than three dozen communities were cut off when roads and bridges were washed out.
Eta made landfall Tuesday in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane. While it's still too early to know exactly where Eta will go next, the latest forecast calls for the storm to reemerge over the Caribbean Sea and move toward Florida over the weekend and into early next week.
Officials in Miami-Dade, Monroe and other Florida counties were monitoring the storm and reminding residents to prepared and have emergency kits ready if needed.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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