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Tropical Storm Agatha Kills at Least 40, Dozens Missing

   VOA News 30 May 2010

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   A  man  tries  to use a public phone in Palin, south of Guatemala CIty
   after  an avalanche triggered by tropical storm Agatha hit the village
   on Sunday, May 30, 2010.

   Officials  in  Guatemala  say  floods  and landslides triggered by the
   first  tropical  storm  of  the eastern Pacific season are believed to
   have killed at least 40 people, with some two dozen missing.
   Tropical  Storm Agatha pounded Central America and Mexico Saturday and
   Sunday.   Agatha  made landfall near the border between Guatemala and
   Mexico  Saturday  with  maximum  sustained  winds of 75 kilometers per
   hour.
   The  U.S.  National  Hurricane  Center  in Miami reports Agatha is now
   moving  northeastward  toward the western Caribbean Sea.  But it said
   the storm will continue to produce heavy rain over portions of eastern
   Guatemala, El Salvador, and western and central Honduras over the next
   day or two.
   Officials  said  at  least eight people, including four children, were
   killed in separate landslides in Guatemala near the capital, Guatemala
   City, on Saturday.
   Thousands of people in Guatemala had already been evacuated due to the
   eruption  of the Pacaya volcano.  The volcano, which is just south of
   Guatemala City, began spewing lava and rocks Thursday.  The eruptions
   have  killed  at  least  one  person  and shut down the country's main
   airport for at least five more days.
   Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AP and AFP.

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