At least thirteen dead in El Salvador and Honduras due to the passage of Hurricane Julia

At least nine people have died in El Salvador and four more have died in Honduras due to the passage of hurricane ‘Julia’, whose eye has crossed from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific through Nicaraguan territory.

Five of the fatal victims are Salvadoran soldiers who were buried by the collapse of a house in which they were sheltering in the municipality of Comasagua, according to the newspaper ‘La Prensa Grafica’ quoting local authorities. A sixth soldier was taken to a health center with several fractures.

Two other people died after being buried under a wall in their own home in Guatajiagua and a 30-year-old man died after being swept away by the current while riding a motorcycle in the municipality of Armenia. A 74 year-old man died when a tree fell on his house in Agua Caliente, Caluco, in the department of Sonsonate.

Authorities have counted overflows in eight rivers with the departments of La Union and San Miguel as the most affected, in addition to fallen trees and sinkholes in several roads.

The heavy rains left by ‘Julia’ in Honduras have resulted in the death of four people, hundreds of evacuees, floods and landslides. Classes are suspended throughout the country and Ramon Villeda Morales Airport has been closed.

The storm advances this Monday towards the northwest parallel to the coast of El Salvador, but the Secretariat of Risk Management and National Contingencies of Honduras (COPECO) maintains the red alert for twelve departments of the country, while the others are on yellow alert, as reported by the Honduran newspaper ‘El Heraldo’.

Among the deceased is a 22-year-old woman who was swept away by the strong currents of the Bijao river in Choloma, Cortés, in northern Honduras.

Three other people died after being shipwrecked in the municipality of Brus Laguna, in Gracias a Dios. Among the victims are a man between 25 and 28 years old and a six year old girl. The third victim was found hours later, but his identity is not yet known.

Meanwhile, the vice president of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, has stressed that the storm ‘Julia’ has caused only material damage after passing through Nicaraguan territory. The storm left Nicaraguan territory at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday with winds of 85 kilometers per hour, reports the portal El 19 Digital.

“Of course an event like this so strong that is affecting all of Central America always leaves consequences, thank God that they have been material consequences, and that, as a direct result of this phenomenon, we have no deaths,” Murillo said in a message broadcast this Sunday.