At least 28 people have died in Guatemala due to heavy rains in the country, which have left 14 injured and four missing, revealed the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction in a report released on Saturday, August 13.
More than 30,000 people were treated by the emergency services, while around 10,000 inhabitants had to flee their homes, bringing the number of people affected by bad weather to more than 2 million.
Most of the victims were registered in the cities of Alta Verapaz and Huehuetenango, in the north of the country, and in Escuintla and Zacapa, in the south.
The most affected areas are those with a predominantly indigenous population, which are the most vulnerable to natural disasters. About 60% of the 17 million Guatemalans live in poverty.
As for the damaged infrastructure, the authorities counted five highways and 17 bridges destroyed by the force of the waters of the Polochic River, which overflowed, in addition to hundreds of affected buildings.
On June 13, Guatemalan civil protection officials said at least 15 people had been killed and seven injured in landslides triggered by heavy rains since early May, with 500,000 people affected by the storms.
Already in 2021, the rains in Guatemala caused the death of 35 people and three disappeared, 17 injured and nearly 1.5 million affected.
The rainy season, which runs from May to November, kills hundreds of people each year in Central America, one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change.
In July, the World Meteorological Organization warned that extreme events such as prolonged droughts, terrestrial and marine heat waves, melting glaciers, extreme rainfall and deforestation are affecting Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: Observadora
