The death toll in Mexico and Central America climbed to 55 Saturday as torrential rain storms continued, causing deadly mudslides and massive flooding. More than 250,000 people were affected across the region -- 62,700 in Mexico, 118,704 in Guatemala, about 60,000 in El Salvador, 7,862 in Honduras and 4,463 in Nicaragua. Authorities worked against the clock to evacuate thousands of people from the most vulnerable regions ahead of the rain which had been forecast for the upcoming days. The continuing presence of a storm system over southern Mexico "is expected to produce locally heavy rains over the Yucatan peninsula, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands during the next couple of days."
By Saturday, civil protection authorities had evacuated over 17,700 people in the five countries worst hit by the ongoing torrential rains caused last week by Hurricane Jova, Hurricane Irwin, Tropical Depression 12-E and two other independent storm systems.
Guatemala's death toll rose to 23, after one reported missing was found dead, and the country's National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Reduction raised the number of affected people to as many as 118,704 from Friday's 55,000. The death toll in El Salvador rose by one to a total of seven, while the number in the neighboring Honduras rose to 10 as the continuous rains caused flooding in over 50 percent of southern Honduras. In Nicaragua, the death toll remained unchanged at eight, while in Mexico, the reported death toll was 10, up from eight previously. According to weather forecasts, southern Mexico and Central America are facing situations similar to Hurricanes Stan and Mitch, as months-long torrential rains from an intense 2011 hurricane season have left soils saturated with water and extremely vulnerable to landslides.
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