El Salvador Devastated by New Onslaught of Landslides

El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes:

The images that we have seen today are of a devastated country

About 130 people have been killed, with at least 60 others missing after days of heavy rain that caused flooding and landslides in El Salvador.

Salvadorans look at their houses that were damaged by heavy rains in San Salvador November 8, 2009. REUTERS/William Bonilla. Image may be subject to copyright.

Map of El Salvador with the worst affected regions San Salvador, the capital, and central San Vicente province marked.

Describing the countrywide devastation as “incalculable,” the El Salvador president declared a national emergency.

San Salvador, the nation’s capital, and central San Vicente province were the hardest-hit regions, officials were reported as saying

According to local reports, San Vicente is virtually cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges, with the worst hit areas being Cuscatlan, La Libertad and La Paz.

Workers seen near a street that was damaged by heavy rain in San Martin on the outskirts of San Salvador, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Photo: Luis Romero/ AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

What if the rain continued?

A police officer told the AP: “The weather continues to be bad, and we already have a river flowing through the village due to a landslide. We are worried things will get worse if the rains continue.”

Large parts of El Salvador are without power or clean water and remain cut off from government aid because of collapsed bridges and washed-up roads

El Salvador’s relentless downpour that funneled rain from the mountains into populated valleys below, lasting for more than 3 days, were caused by a low pressure system in the Pacific, and did NOT occur directly as a result of Hurricane Ida, according to weather reports.

Ida strengthened to a hurricane-force storm on Thursday for the first time near the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, forcing about than 5,000 people to take shelters from heavy rains.

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