By SONIA PÉREZ D. and MARCOS ALEMAN
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — At least 28 deaths, 14 of them in Guatemala, four in Honduras, nine in El Salvador, and thousands of casualties have left Storm Julia’s passage through Central America.
In the Guatemalan city of Panzós Alta Verapaz in the north-central part of the country, five people died when they were buried by a landslide after a squad buried their homes on a hillside, and nine people died in Huehuetenango department, including a soldier involved in rescue efforts died while crossing a river.
So far, Julia’s journey through Guatemala has left 167,000 households with power problems and a damaged hydroelectric power station, President Alejandro Giammattei told reporters, adding Mexico has offered to provide electricity to some areas.
The Guatemalan government is preparing to declare a state of emergency for the entire territory, which will allow it to restrict constitutional guarantees such as movement restrictions and erect sanitary barriers, and to centralize aid.
The government ordered the deployment of civilian and military personnel to assist victims and firefighters, and the Red Cross is in the affected areas assisting in the evacuation of hundreds of people. The Department of Education canceled classes and suspended deported flights from the United States and Mexico to the Central American country until Wednesday.
According to official information, Julia, already a remnant, will cross the entire country towards southern Mexico.
It made landfall in El Salvador on Sunday with torrential downpours and sustained 45 mph winds that spilled rivers, downed trees on highways and flooded city streets.
At least five soldiers died underground when the wall of a house collapsed while they were sheltering from the rain in the community of Comasagua, where for a week more than 2,000 soldiers and about 500 police officers have been participating in a security fence to pursue gang members City. Zone. Another soldier was injured.
Authorities also found a dead motorcyclist swept away by a current in the municipality of Amenia, department of Sonsonate. Next to the man was the motorcycle on which he was being transported.
In the Salvadoran community of Guatajiagua in the east of the country, two people died after a wall collapsed, destroying their home, the National Civil Police confirmed.
Meanwhile, in a rural area of the municipality of Caluco in the western department of Sonsonate, a 72-year-old man died when a tree fell on his house, Civil Defense Director Luis Amaya told a news conference. Two other people were injured in the same incident.
The heavy rains caused the Rio Grande to overflow, one of the largest in the country, and flooded several homes in the Carrillo and Brisas del Río neighborhoods of the city of San Miguel, 135 kilometers from the capital, but there were no reports of casualties because local authorities alerted them to the danger and most left the area.
The water that covered the area was up to two meters high and rescuers had to use small boats to evacuate some people left behind and ropes to stop the current from dragging them along.
The director of shelters in El Salvador, Josué Garcia, said that 25 of the 80 prepared shelters have been activated and that around 1,000 people are already being cared for in these facilities.
The Salvadoran government deployed thousands of troops to support evacuation efforts both in the east of the country and in the capital’s communities.
The Salvadoran Congress on Saturday evening declared a 15-day national emergency and authorized civil defense to carry out mandatory evacuations of vulnerable populations.
The capital’s international airport curtailed some operations but maintained commercial flights Monday morning. The Ministry of Education also agreed to extend the suspension of classes until Tuesday.
In Honduras, firefighters confirmed the rescue of the body of a 22-year-old woman in the northern municipality of Choloma, who died on Saturday after being swept away by the current of a river that swelled due to heavy rains. Municipal authorities also confirmed to the AP the deaths of three people, a couple and a 4-year-old girl, when a canoe capsized in the northern municipality of Brus Laguna.
Honduran Social Investment Fund director Octavio Pineda Paredes told local media that at least 193 municipalities and 973 stretches of highway were affected and that the departments of West, South and El Paraíso remained on high alert.
In Nicaragua, Monday dawned clear and sunny in most affected regions, although rain continued in the departments of León and Chinandega, the last areas hit by Julia as she left national territory.
The mayor of the northern department of Jinotega, Leónidas Centeno, reported that a 24-year-old man died in the municipality of Las Latas on Sunday when a tree fell on him.
The government is maintaining a red alert and has ordered all public and private schools, colleges and universities to suspend classes this Monday. He also urged the population to take precautionary measures because of the flooding caused by the rain and the flooding of at least 78 rivers in different areas of the country.
Authorities have offered no compensation for the damage caused to the Caribbean town of Laguna de Perlas, where the hurricane hit with all its might early Sunday morning, leaving powerless and completely cut off.
In the Caribbean town of Bluefields, many woke up to repair the roofs of their homes and clear the streets covered with logs and garbage. Residents said the town remained without power because several trees fell on the power lines and the utility has not yet been restored.
During a visit to La Guajira to assess the damage, Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed concern about the breakdown in land communications and proposed a short-term plan for the military to build bridges or alternative emergency routes.
In La Guajira, nearly 5,000 people were affected by the floods and a public disaster was declared in the department.