Death toll in storm keeps rising

May 31, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY

The death toll in Central America from landslides and flooding triggered by the year’s first tropical storm surged to 83 on Sunday, as authorities struggled to clear roads of debris and reach cut-off communities.

Torrential rains that have pounded an area stretching from southern Mexico nearly to Nicaragua eased somewhat, as rivers continued to rise and word filtered out from isolated areas of more deaths in landslides.

In Guatemala, 73 people were killed as rains unleashed lethal landslides across the country, according to government disaster relief spokesman David de Leon.

Tropical Storm Agatha made landfall near the nation’s border with Mexico with winds up to 45 mph on Saturday and was dissipating rapidly Sunday over the mountains of western Guatemala.

In El Salvador, President Mauricio Funes warned that the danger had not yet passed and reported nine deaths.

In Honduras, one death was linked to the weather, and a fishing boat was missing off the Pacific coast with eight aboard.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that remnants of the storm were expected to deliver 10 to 20 inches of rain over southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of El Salvador.

As of Sunday afternoon, 75,000 people in Guatemala had been evacuated, many to shelters. At least 3,500 homes sustained major damage.

Thirteen died in one landslide that tore through the community of San Antonio Palopo on the steep banks of Lake Atitlan, a popular tourist attraction 40 miles east of Guatemala City.