Devastating Floods

Three days of Torrential rain in El Salvador has triggered flooding and mudslides leaving 124 people dead and dozens missing. The authorities warned that the death toll could rise as rescuers gained access to remote areas cut off by the floodwater. “The images we have seen today are of a country devastated,” President Mauricio Funes said, as reported in the LA Times. “Funes said the destruction resulted from a lack of flood-prevention systems in hard-hit spots, which he said received more than a foot of rain. The impoverished nation of 7 million was pelted by three days of rain attributed to ‘a disturbed weather area’ off the Pacific coast of El Salvador, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said the heavy rains were unrelated to Hurricane Ida, which earlier sideswiped the region as a tropical storm over the western Caribbean.”