GUATEMALA CITY, Sep 25 (Aljazeera) - At least six people are dead and 12 others missing after a swollen river swept away homes in Guatemala’s capital city.
Early on Monday, waters from the Naranjo River rushed through a shantytown in Guatemala City called Dios es Fiel, or God is Faithful, destroying at least six homes that had been perched under a bridge, according to Guatemala’s National Coordination for Disaster Reduction agency (CONRED).
Search dogs and recovery teams discovered the bodies of six people who died in the flood waters, including that of a young girl, believed to be about five years old. She was found partially buried in the mud that rushed through the area. An estimated eight children were among the 12 still missing.
Heavy rains triggered the high waters, which pushed flows of stones, soil and waste through the settlement.
“The river … took homes, neighbours’ belongings. Neighbours disappeared,” resident Esau Gonzalez, 42, told the AFP news agency.
Residents told AFP they had no choice but to live in the precarious location. Tens of thousands of Guatemalans live in similar shantytowns.
“We knew the risk, [but] we are here out of necessity,” said Marvin Cabrera, 36, a food delivery worker who lived in the area struck by the rising waters.
Guatemala has a 59-percent poverty rate. It also has a housing deficit of about 2 million units, according to the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction and the ANACOVI builders’ association.
Experts say the lack of housing for low-income residents contributes to the construction of informal settlements, often in locations prone to natural disasters.
Landslides are a constant threat during Guatemala’s rainy season, which runs from May to November.
At least 29 people have already died from landslides in the country this year, with about 2.1 million people affected overall.
In addition, 10,000 homes have been lost in heavy rains this year. Four roads and nine bridges have also been destroyed.
Heavy rains to the north in Mexico likewise caused fatal flooding on Monday, with at least seven people dead in the western state of Jalisco.
There, “atypical rain” pushed the stream in El Jalocote to swell, overflowing into residential areas and forming waves of mud and debris in the area of Autlán de Navarro, some 100 kilometres from the Pacific coast.
Another nine people remain missing, according to the Jalisco state government on Monday. Three other residents were rescued from the flood waters.
Photo from AP
