Rains Imperil Honduran Dam; 100,000 Evacuated

SAN SALVADOR — Torrential rains that have pelted Central America for two weeks threatened Honduras’ major dam Saturday, forcing the evacuation of more than 100,000 people downstream.

The entire region has suffered from massive flooding that has killed 13 people and destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of crops and buildings, many in areas devastated by Tropical Storm Mitch less than a year ago. Concurrent rain-producing weather systems over the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea have caught the Central American isthmus in the middle of the downpours.

After swollen rivers washed away nine bridges in Honduras, emergency authorities in El Salvador announced plans for dismantling temporary bridges put in place after Mitch, which killed 9,000 people. Rains have caused landslides, cut off highways and forced the Honduran and Salvadoran foreign ministers to postpone a meeting last week to discuss border issues.

The number of people left homeless is now in the hundreds of thousands and expected to increase, with predictions that rainfall during the weekend will total as much as 6 inches.

In Honduras, where six people have died, floodgates were opened late Friday, sending 30 times the normal flow of water rushing into area rivers and streams as officials struggled to save the El Cajon dam. The mounting pressure of water filling its reservoir could collapse the giant dam, they said.

Because El Cajon supplies about 60% of Honduras’ electricity, presidential advisor Nahum Valladares warned to expect rationing.

Evacuated residents were asked to find shelter with family and friends.

With more than 40,000 Hondurans still homeless because of Mitch, government shelters are already filled.

Salvadoran authorities had made the decision to open floodgates a week earlier to save the 15th of September dam on the Lempa River. On Tuesday, President Francisco Flores visited the region, known as the Lower Lempa, where 2,500 of El Salvador’s poorest farmers lost an estimated 500 acres of crops and their homes when the floodgates were opened.

“I could not save a single bushel of corn,” Jose Manuel Escobar lamented to the newspaper La Prensa Grafica. “It all rotted.”

Farmers like Escobar pleaded with Flores on his visit to build a dike to stop the annual flooding in the area.

“To the extent possible, we will do everything in our power to avoid letting these problems continue,” he told them.

Nearby, in La Union, residents reported that mud, tree trunks and trash carried in rapidly moving rivers blocked the foundations of bridges Thursday, turning them into dams and flooding five neighborhoods.

In all, five people have been killed by flooding in El Salvador.

In the middle of Lake Nicaragua, waters rose along the shores of Ometepe Island, forcing residents to flee up the Maderas Volcano as their homes were destroyed.

The Coco River carried away three houses in northeastern Nicaragua, where flooding from Mitch left virtually nothing standing last November.

About 500 people were evacuated from the northwestern province of Chinandega, and authorities told residents of Ocotal in the northwest to prepare to leave if water continues to rise.

Several communities along the Ixpats River in southeastern Guatemala have been evacuated, and a man was killed Thursday when the river swept him away. Another man lost his life the same way a week ago in Costa Rica’s western province of Guanacaste, where about 35 riverside hamlets have been flooded.