MANAGUA – Eleven people died, four disappeared and 2,700 were left homeless in the torrential rains that have lashed Nicaragua since last week, the nation’s head of Civil Defense, Col. Mario Perezcassar, announced.
In a statement on local television’s Channel 2, the official reported Oct. 2 that Sinapred, the national disaster response system, would extend for another 12 hours the green alert for disaster prevention announced earlier in the day nationwide because of massive flooding from the downpours.
He gave no further details about where the deaths had occurred or where people had gone missing.
A communiqué from Sinapred’s executive secretariat said that people had been left homeless in the departments of Madriz, Nueva Segovia, Estelà and Matagalpa in the northern part of the country, in Carazo and Granada in the southeast, and in the central departments of Boaco and Chontales.
Perezcassar said that 153 municipalities around the country have adopted the necessary preventive measures.
He added that some 500 families have been left homeless and that the area hit hardest by the storm was the southeastern province of Granada where the TepalonRiver has risen 3 meters, causing extensive flooding and rat infestations.
The colonel said that Civil Defense has rushed 100 emergency personnel into the area and that scores of people there had to be evacuated by boat.
Perezcassar announced that Sinapred has already sent food for the homeless who have sought refuge in temporary shelters.
Nicaragua’s rainy season is now entering the most intense period of the year and won’t let up until December.
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