Central American flooding toll rises

GUATEMALA CITY — Rescue workers in Guatemala pulled at least 40 bodies from a massive mudslide and found 20 more dead in a swollen river yesterday, officials said, raising to at least 231 the number of people killed from five days of pounding rains in Central America and Mexico.

Officials expected the death to toll to climb as they searched for more than 150 others who were missing following the landslide in Sololá, a town close to Lake Atitlán, 60 miles west of the capital, Guatemala City.

Along the country's Pacific coast, the Nahualate River broke from its banks, creating a new outlet to the sea and killing at least 20 people from a small, seaside village, navy officials said.

There was joy amid the tragedy. Claudio Manchinel, from Iztapa in coastal, southern Guatemala, was forced to walk for hours through rain and mud with his pregnant wife, Leticia. Upon reaching a highway, the couple stopped an ambulance, which took them to a naval base, where their son, Claudio, was born Wednesday.

Manchinel said the flooding reminded him of Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people throughout Central America in 1998.

The recovery of the bodies pushed the number killed in the region to 231, including 14 victims this week in Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, and 13 victims who died in three southern Mexican states.

The death toll in Guatemala is 139, with the majority of the victims killed in landslides. At least 65 died in El Salvador.

Guatemalan President Óscar Berger asked Congress to declare a state of emergency as rescue workers in Sololá reported that two other villages had been buried by landslides, including Las Giraldas, 55 miles west of Guatemala City.

In Las Giraldas, more than a dozen people were working to dig out buried houses when a second hillside collapsed.

In Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's second most important city about 125 miles west of the capital, floodwaters rose 6 ½ feet high, destroying hundreds of homes, businesses and public buildings, firefighters said.

More than 24,000 people from 270 communities took refuge in shelters throughout Guatemala, but they were suffering from the cold and a lack of food and water, according to radio reports. Quetzaltenango residents reported similar conditions.

"It was complicated arriving with new shipments of food" because of the bad weather, said Agriculture Minister Álvaro Aguilar. "Today, we are making an effort" to reach the areas by air.

Guatemalan rescue workers also were trying to restore access to 300 roads blocked by fallen trees, flooding and landslides. In El Salvador, where the heavy rains have left 65 dead, rescuers also stepped up aid flights and flyovers as the sun emerged from behind the clouds.

Authorities also were on alert for new landslides and flooded rivers similar to those that had closed or destroyed dozens of highways and bridges. Officials said nearly 54,000 people had been evacuated to 370 shelters throughout the country, while nearly 80 percent of the country's roadways had been affected by the rains.

The Mexican air force yesterday was preparing to deliver 220 tons of food and 33 tons of emergency supplies to El Salvador.

In addition, Mexican President Vicente Fox said two planes loaded with 40 tons of aid would fly out to southern areas of Mexico devastated by the rains.

The United States said it was donating $100,000 in household items to Mexico and would also offer humanitarian aid to the Central American countries.