At least 25 killed in Central America by Tropical Storm Julia

At least 25 people have been killed so far as a result of Tropical Storm Julia, which has been sweeping Central America since this weekend. Most of the victims were in El Salvador and Guatemala. In El Salvador, authorities have reported ten deaths, including five soldiers involved in a rescue. More than a thousand people were evacuated.

At least eight people have been killed and seven others injured in Guatemala since Sunday. Among the dead were five members of one family who ended up under the rubble of their home due to a landslide.

Five people were killed in Honduras, including a 4-year-old boy who was in a boat that capsized near the border with Nicaragua. Some 9,200 people had to seek shelter in that country.

Local authorities in Panama say at least two people have died as a result of heavy rainfall. About three hundred residents of the border area with neighboring Costa Rica had to flee their homes.

The tropical storm made landfall off the coast of Nicaragua on the Caribbean Sea on Sunday. About a million people were without electricity and heavy rainfall and flooding forced more than 13,000 households to evacuate.

The storm has since passed, reports the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). The NHC warns that life-threatening situations can still arise on the coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala. Heavy rainfall in those countries can also still cause flooding.

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