5 die in events related to heavy rain
Published:Tuesday | June 18, 2024 | 12:08 AM
SAN SALVADOR (AP):
Five people were killed early Monday in separate events that authorities in El Salvador attributed to heavy rains that have persisted since the weekend.
In Tacuba, near the country’s border with Guatemala, three people died after they were buried in a landslide provoked by heavy rains. Juan Carlos Bidegaín, chief of the country’s civil defence, said that two of those victims were minors.
Two others were killed early Monday when they lost control of their vehicle in western El Salvador.
That followed a person who died in a landslide Saturday and a man who died Sunday after a tree fell on his vehicle.
Low-pressure areas on Guatemala’s Pacific coast and in the Gulf of Mexico are fuelling heavy rains in the region.
El Salvador’s government declared an emergency Sunday and opened some 100 shelters across the country as the risk of flooding increased.
In Guatemala, authorities closed schools until Thursday due to the heavy rain that started over the weekend.