Posted on Tue, Nov. 10, 2009

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Flooding, landslides kill at least 136 in El Salvador

By Ken Ellingwood and Alex Renderos

Los Angeles Times

VERAPAZ, El Salvador — The hill-ringed town of Verapaz is now a wasteland of fallen boulders, thigh-deep mud and broken little houses.

Rescue workers and desperate residents dug amid the debris Monday for signs of those people still missing a day after severe flooding and landslides left at least 136 dead across El Salvador.

Verapaz, a coffee-bean growing town of 6,000, was one of the worst-hit spots. Earth and boulders poured down the side of Chichontepec volcano in a thunderous wave, burying some homes and inhabitants. The landslides followed days of rain and a punishing downpour over the weekend that pried the hillside loose.

Residents recounted the terror they felt Sunday as the ground rumbled with flowing debris in the early morning darkness.

"I started to hear roaring noises and the ground began to shake," Marlene Ramirez said. "Then my windows broke and lots of mud came in. I ran outside and climbed over the wall of the house next door to get on the roof."

Ramirez said every member of four neighboring families died in the crush of mud and rocks.

"All I could do from the roof was shout to my neighbors to get out," she said, weeping. "I shouted, 'Run, run, the volcano is falling down!' "

At least 16 Verapaz residents were reported killed and 47 others were unaccounted for — most of the 60 people reported missing across the Central American nation.

Rescuers used shovels and tractors Monday to clear the river of oozing mud, search for missing people and salvage contents of ruined homes.

"We don't have enough heavy equipment to lift the rocks and look for the missing," rescue worker Jose Arnulfo Membreno said.

President Mauricio Funes toured Verapaz after declaring a state of emergency for the nation of 7 million. Funes urged Salvadoran lawmakers to approve $300 million in international loans, half of which would be used for reconstruction.

There were no immediate damage estimates.

The toll was visible around the country, though, after rivers overwhelmed their banks and rain-sodden hills collapsed, smashing shacks that had clung to the sides or sat in gullies below. Some places were pounded by more than a foot of rain — nearly equal to the rainfall during disastrous Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Nationwide, more than 13,600 people were evacuated, including in and around the capital, San Salvador, which also suffered heavy damage. Officials said 60 percent of the country was affected, and that around 2,000 homes were damaged.

The death toll rose from 124 a night earlier as more victims turned up in flood zones.

The heavy rains stemmed from a weather system off the country's Pacific coast and were unrelated to Hurricane Ida, which swept along the region's Atlantic coast, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

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