Hommam Al Nassim 
Twenty-seven people have died in Central America due to landslides and floods over the past week, most of them in El Salvador, according to officials.
Salvadoran Environment Minister Fernando Lopez said that the heavy rains were caused by a depression over the Pacific Ocean, in addition to an indirect effect of Tropical Storm “Alberto,” which killed four people in Mexico.
In a television interview, the commander of the Civil Protection Service in El Salvador, Luis Amaya, stated that the death toll in the country had risen to 19, including two girls who were swept away by landslides that swept through their home.
Amaya added that preventive evacuations were carried out in high-risk areas on the foothills and near swollen rivers.
In neighboring Guatemala, authorities announced the deaths of seven people and floods caused significant damage to infrastructure, including roads and bridges.
As for Honduras, the Permanent Emergency Committee reported that one person was killed, more than two hundred homes were damaged, and 3,500 people were affected by the rise in river levels, which led to the isolation of several areas in the south of the country near the border with El Salvador.
In Nicaragua, no deaths were recorded, but the authorities warned of rising river levels and the risk of water invading homes and damaging roads.
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