Devastating Storm ETA Leaves 150 Dead or Missing in Guatemala

One of the fiercest storms to hit Central America in years, Eta on Friday dumped more torrential rain across large parts of Central America, and the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned “catastrophic flooding” in the region would continue.

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The death toll in Central America from the devastating storm has soared after the Guatemalan military reached a remote mountainous village where torrential rains had triggered catastrophic mudslides. The Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei estimated the total number of dead and missing to approach 150.

“At this moment we calculate that, between the dead and those missing, non-official figures put it at more or less 150 dead, and we say non-official because we don’t have it totally confirmed,” the president said. Giammattei earlier added that bad weather was hampering rescue efforts, which were further limited by the country having only one helicopter for the job.

Rescue operations across Honduras and Guatemala have been slowed by destroyed roads and bridges, forcing authorities to draft in the military and use helicopters and speedboats to rescue people stranded on top of their houses.

Eta wrought chaos after plowing into Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday with winds of 241 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour) before weakening to a tropical depression and unleashing torrents of rain on regions of Honduras and Guatemala.

Across swathes of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, strong winds and heavy rain have damaged hundreds, if not thousands, of homes, forcing people to take cover in shelters. Flash flooding and river overflows were also possible across Jamaica, southeast Mexico, the Cayman Islands, and western Cuba. 

On Friday morning, the storm's eye was on the edge of Belize’s coast and heading out to the Caribbean Sea, charting a course to Cuba and Florida this weekend, the NHC said. But remnants of Eta will continue to batter portions of Central America with “catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding,” the NHC said.