[NYTr] Heavy Rains Ravage Central Amer, Caribbean; at Least 20 Dead

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


Heavy Rains Ravage Central America and the Caribbean

Havana, Oct 15 (acn) At least 20 deaths and thousands of evacuees  have 
been reported in Central America and the Caribbean as a result of the 
torrential rains affecting those regions over the last few days.

The natural disaster, caused by a low pressure system, has affected 
areas from Guatemala to Costa Rica where rescue teams have been 
mobilized to help the affected areas, reports Granma newspaper.

In Costa Rica a mudslide left 14 dead and blocked the Inter-American 
Highway, the main road that crosses the country from north to south. In 
Nicaragua, at least 10,000 have been affected, including 4,500 who have 
been evacuated to temporary shelters. Nicaraguan President Daniel 
Ortega, heading the Emergency Committee, has declared a state of alert 
in several regions of the country.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala, some 1,440 have been evacuated to temporary 
shelters. In Panama, two people are reported missing and hundreds 
affected by the torrential rainfall.

Haiti has been the hardest hit with 24 people reported dead in the 
mountainous city of Cabaret, some 30 kilometers north of 
Port-au-Prince, although the extent of the damage is still largely 
unknown due to continuing extreme weather conditions and blocked roads 
throughout the country.