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Intense rains leave 4 dead in Honduras

04 October 2011 04:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least four people had been killed in flooding and landslides following more than a week of intense rains in Honduras, the country’s Permanent Contingency Commission (Copeco) said Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Urging all Hondurans to take precaution, the Copeco warned that the soils in and around the valley in which the capital Tegucigalpa is located are saturated by up to 80 percent and extremely vulnerable to landslides.

The victims included two women who died after being buried in a landslide in central Honduras, while a young man died in the eastern province of Lempira when he was trying to cross a river and lost control in the strong currents.

The rains, which have pounded Honduras for over a week as both Hurricane Ophelia and Tropical Storm Philippe passed along the Caribbean and provoked torrential showers, also caused a number of roads to be cut off either by flooding or landslides.

In the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, an unknown number of houses collapsed in poor suburbs of the capital, but local authorities had managed to evacuate the families living there before this happened. Officials also reported "massive structural damage" in the capital area.

In northeastern Honduras, both the Ulua and Chamelecon rivers broke their banks and flooded neighborhood areas.