(7 Oct 2005) SHOTLIST
Chiquimulia, Guatemala
1. Wide of residents walking through flooded street
2. Firefighters helping stranded resident onto a wall
3. Firefighters taking resident through flooded street
4. Residents climbing onto a fire truck
5. Men carrying woman through flooded street
6. Man carrying dog to safety
7. Family walking through flooded street
STORYLINE
Heavy rain was at last being replaced by cloudy skies and sunny spells on Thursday in Central America and Mexico.
The gentler weather follows five days of lashing rain in the region which caused severe flooding in many places, including Chiquimulia in Guatemala.
In Chiquimulia, about 150 kilometres (93.2 miles) from Guatemala City, many families had chosen to remain at home to protect their property, despite official warnings, and they ended up stranded by the floods.
Rescue workers on Thursday pulled 40 bodies from a landslide in Guatemala, raising the death toll from storms to 198 victims, state and federal officials said.
Most of those are in Guatemala, where the current death toll is 119, the majority of the victims killed in landslides.
For the first time in five days, rains let up on Thursday, allowing helicopters to fly over devastated areas and evaluate damage.
More than 24,000 people from 270 communities took refuge in shelters throughout Guatemala, but were suffering from cold and a lack of food and water, according to Guatemalan radio reports.
Guatemalan rescue workers also were trying to restore access to 300 roadways blocked by fallen trees, flooding and landslides.
Thirty-thousand litres of drinking water have been distributed to those affected to prevent them from drinking contaminated water, National Disaster Emergency Agency officials said.
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