Friday, September 7, 2007

After storms Central America on flood alert

Terra Daily, via Agence France-Presse: Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico geared up for flooding from rain-swollen rivers Thursday in the wake of two devastating hurricanes that left at least 109 dead and scores more missing…

In Central America, low-lying areas were on high alert against flooding as rivers continued to rise following super-storm Felix, which blasted into Nicaragua's northern Mosquito Coast Tuesday, killing at least 38 and leaving 50,000 homeless. At special risk are owner-built homes on precarious foundations and in the path of mudslides.

The storm at its peak Tuesday reached the highest possible category five strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The European Union announced it would send 1.3 million dollars in emergency aid to help the relief effort in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua's disaster chief Ramon Arnesto Sistema said the death toll was "likely to rise," with some 120 people missing from the Miskito Cays along the coast of the impoverished North Atlantic Autonomous Region. An aircraft with tonnes of food, blankets and medication landed late Wednesday in Bilwi, the regional capital, and a Venezuelan cargo plane was due to arrive later Thursday. The World Food Program delivered 4.5 tonnes of aid to the Nicaraguan government, while neighboring El Salvador and Honduras also sent assistance.

The population worst hit by the storm was without help for a full day due to the remoteness of the jungle region. The bodies of 24 native Miskito Nicaraguans, whose fishing boat had capsized, were found near the Caribbean coast of Honduras in the wake of Felix, an official told reporters Thursday.

…"The rivers are rising, it is almost certain that they will flood, and we cannot run the risk that there will be deaths because we did not take the situation seriously," El Progresso mayor Jose Martinez told AFP…

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