Hurricane Stan, which slammed ashore on Mexico’s oil-rich Gulf coast on Tuesday but was downgraded to a tropical storm by the end of the day, drenched much of the country’s south after killing at least 58 people.
The storm packed maximum sustained winds of 130kph as it made landfall near Punta Roca Partida, 120km southeast of the port city of Veracruz.
In the nearby city of San Andres Tuxtla, the storm uprooted trees and ripped roofs off houses.
Stan killed two people in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, said Leonardo Munoz Arellano with the Chiapas civil protection office.
In El Salvador the death toll blamed on the torrential rains that have been falling since the weekend rose to 39 as a mudslide buried six people in San Jacinto, southwest of the capital San Salvador.
More than 14 000 people fled their homes, not only because of the storm, but also as a result of Saturday’s eruption of the Santa Ana volcano, which killed two people.
Dozens of communities, most of them along the coastal region, were flooded as rivers burst their banks.
In Nicaragua, Stan was blamed for 10 deaths, including a 99-year-old man buried under a landslide. Another four were reported killed in Honduras.
Authorities said the storm caused three more deaths and left 47 people wounded in Guatemala, where more than 2 700 people evacuated their homes threatened by flooding.
The storm dumped torrential rains over much of southern Mexico, and earlier forced the evacuation of 270 workers from offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The port of Veracruz, Mexico’s main eastern port, was closed during the day due to gigantic waves up to five meters tall and powerful wind.
By late on Tuesday about 12 000 people had been evacuated, said Governor Fidel Herrera.
In the state of Chiapas, dozens of homes were reportedly destroyed when a river burst its banks in the small town of Cuatan.
Rain also damaged 50 homes and flooded roads in the tourist resort of Cancun, on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, according to local authorities.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre warned that the driving rain could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in the states of Veracruz and Puebla.
The storm is the 10th Atlantic hurricane this year. It is likely to further weaken as it hits mountains in eastern Mexico. This year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has been one of the deadliest and most active on record.
Hurricane Katrina, which slammed ashore on the US Gulf of Mexico coast August 29, ravaged New Orleans and coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, killing more than 1 200 people and becoming the deadliest storm to hit the United States since 1928. – AFP
