Several Central American countries are experiencing severe storms as a result of Tropical Storm Julia. According to the AP . news agency At least nineteen people have been killed. Thousands of families have been evacuated and several countries have declared a state of emergency.
In Honduras, at least 9,000 people sought refuge in emergency shelters opened by the government on Monday. Five people were killed, including a four-year-old child. Nine people, including five soldiers, were killed in El Salvador when the house in which they were sheltering collapsed. Throughout the country, where the state of emergency is in force, sports halls have been set up to receive displaced persons.
Guatemala has also been hit hard by the storm. Five victims were buried there by a landslide, two others are still missing. Mexico and the southern United States are expected to be affected by the storm in the coming days.
hurricane season
After previously causing nuisance in Northern Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica, Julia hit Nicaragua hard this weekend. With wind speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour, the storm, which was classified as a hurricane until this Sunday, wreaked havoc in coastal areas. More than ten thousand Nicaraguans had to be evacuated and a million people were temporarily without power.
The Caribbean and Central America are often ravaged by hurricanes and tropical storms at this time of year. On Sunday, dozens more people were killed in a landslide and flooding in northern Venezuela; the result of heavy rainfall. Weather phenomenon this year La Nina for even heavier rainfall than usual.