At least 22 people have died in a landslide in Venezuela after heavy rain. At least 52 missing people are being searched for, said the Vice President of the South American country, Delcy Rodríguez, on Sunday (local time) to journalists at the scene of the accident, the city of Las Tejerías. Hurricane “Julia” caused a so-called trough – a low-pressure area – on Saturday and caused five smaller rivers to overflow.
“Julia” formed on Friday over the Caribbean Sea off Colombia and made landfall on Sunday night (local time) as a hurricane in the lowest category 1 of 5 on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. There were floods in several Central American countries on Sunday.
Flash floods and landslides possible throughout Central America
Julia moved west over Nicaragua, weakening and downgraded to a Tropical Storm. The storm is expected to reach Nicaragua’s Pacific coast in the evening, the NHC said. This warned that life-threatening flash floods and landslides are possible throughout Central America and southern Mexico by Tuesday. According to the forecast, “Julia” should move on overnight and Monday along or near the Pacific coasts of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Las Tejerías has around 50,000 inhabitants and is located around 50 kilometers southwest of the Venezuelan capital Caracas and around 70 kilometers south of the Caribbean coast. Images showed mud covering much of the site, with tree trunks lying on the ground among debris. Children were among the dead, Rodríguez said, as seen on television. The tragedy is a consequence of the climate crisis. President Nicolás Maduro wrote on Twitter that he had ordered three days of national mourning.
A nationwide state of emergency was declared in El Salvador, and schools there, like in Honduras, were to remain closed on Monday. In Honduras, several airports have been closed to commercial flights. According to civil protection in Nicaragua, more than 800 houses in the Central American country were under water and around 13,000 people had been evacuated. On the Colombian island of San Andrés, which “Julia” passed close to Nicaragua, the damage was slight, according to a tweet from the head of civil protection, Javier Pava, due to good preparations, with 101 houses damaged and two destroyed.
Climate change makes strong storms more likely
Just over two weeks earlier, days of rain in Central America had caused landslides and floods that killed at least 20 people in Honduras and El Salvador. In 2020, the devastating hurricanes “Eta” and “Iota” hit the region with around 50 million inhabitants. At least 250 people died and parts of Central America were under water for weeks.
The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June to November. In the past few weeks, the two strong hurricanes “Fiona” and “Ian” have caused great destruction in parts of the Caribbean and North America.
Tropical cyclones form over warm ocean water. The number of severe storms is not increasing due to climate change, but the probability is.
