Tropical Storm Julia weakened this Monday as it advanced across the Pacific towards Guatemala, after leaving four dead in El Salvador and Honduras. and floods and material damage in both countries and Nicaragua.
The Salvadoran Police reported on Twitter that “at least two people died underground” after the collapse of a wall that destroyed a house in the town of Guatajiagua, about 150 km east of San Salvador.
(Also read: Hurricane Julia: El Salvador prepares and declares a state of emergency)
“We remove rubble to recover the bodies,” the police posted on Twitter.
For his part, Wilmer Wood, mayor of the town of Brus Laguna, in the department of Gracias a Dios (east), in Honduras, reported that two people died after a boat capsized due to Julia.
One more person is missing, Wood added.
The risk persists for Julia
The center of Julia moved in the early hours of this Monday in the Pacific Ocean about 65 km west of San Salvador, and According to the United States National Hurricane Center (CNH), “the risk” of flooding remains and “life-threatening” landslides in Central America and southern Mexico.
“Weakening is forecast and Julia is expected to become a tropical depression later today and dissipate tonight,” the NHC said.
The cyclone made landfall on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua early Sunday as a category 1 hurricane, but was downgraded to a tropical storm lashing with heavy rains and winds before exiting into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday night.
(Also: Storm Julia hits Nicaragua before leaving the Pacific)
Weakening is forecast and Julia is expected to become a tropical depression
In El Salvador, where authorities remain on red alert, Julia has unleashed persistent rains with intense gusts of wind that felled trees, flooded roads and forced authorities to carry out preventive evacuations.
“The eastern zone (of El Salvador) is the one that is registering the greatest accumulated rainfall” with up to 177 millimeters in the city of La Unión (east), Environment Minister Fernando López posted on Twitter.
“It was a deluge with strong winds that kept us awake and left us without electricity,” Marina Pacheco told AFP in the southeastern department of Usulutan.
The government has set up some 70 shelters throughout the territory, with a capacity for just over 3,000 people.
Affectations in Central America
The Nicaraguan government declared a red alert after the damage caused by Julia as it passed through the territory, including overflowing rivers, damage to homes, roads, schools and communications, according to a statement issued by the Presidency.
Vice President Rosario Murillo explained that Julia left 7,500 people affected, 3,000 houses flooded, another 2,000 with roofs damaged by the winds, 78 rivers overflowed and walls collapsed.
Julia, which moves at 24 km / h, was with maximum winds of 65 km in its advance to the Guatemalan coast, detailed the National Hurricane Center.
According to the vice president, at the moment no deaths have been reported in Nicaragua, where classes in schools and universities have been suspended.
In Guatemala, which is on red alert, President Alejandro Giammattei announced that classes were suspended due to the cyclone and said that 1,855 shelters are available to shelter victims.
(Keep reading: Storm Julia: preliminary balance delivered after tour of San Andrés)
According to Civil Protection, in Guatemala there are 66,350 people affected in their circulation due to damage to roads or bridges.
In Honduras, where the authorities remain on alert, the Honduran Airport Infrastructure and Services Company (EHISA) announced that the Ramón Villeda Morales international airport in San Pedro Sula suspended operations “temporarily” until Monday.
In Costa Rica, the authorities announced the suspension of classes.
And in Panama, before the arrival of Julia, the authorities carried out evacuations in the province of Chiriquí, bordering Costa Rica, in the Pacific, after registering landslides and the collapse of some infrastructure.
Julia is the second hurricane of the 2022 season that affects Central America after Bonnie entered the Caribbean through the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica in July.
Climate change produces an increase in temperature in the surface layers of the oceans, which generates more powerful storms and hurricanes and with greater amounts of water, according to experts.
AFP
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