(4 Oct 2005)
San Salvador, 3 October 2005
1.Onlookers watching landslides coming down a mountain slope
2. Various of strong water currents carrying debris
3.Various of high currents in the street with overturned car
4.SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Tony Saca, Salvadorian President:
"I declared national emergency so that all departments from the executive branch could integrate themselves into the national emergency system coordinated by the interior ministry."
5. Floodwater flowing strongly through street
STORYLINE:
El Salvador President Tony Saca declared a nationwide state of emergency on Monday, after landslides caused by heavy rains killed at least 23 people and forced more than 8,500 evacuations.
In a televised address, Saca said that by declaring the state of emergency, the government could co-ordinate the emergency efforts more effectively.
Officials reported that heavy morning rains on Monday triggered flooding in 300 communities, adding that 54 shelters were opened across the country to accommodate the more than 8,500 people who fled their homes.
In San Marcos, a city south of the capital, a 2-month old infant died, as did toddlers ages 2 and 4 and their parents, when a wave of dirt swept away a
family home.
Ten people who had yet to be identified were killed in the central part of the country, a region which includes San Salvador.
Officials were unsure if that tally included 72-year-old Santos Zetino, who died after being carried off by the current of a swollen Acelhuate River.
In Lourdes, west of the capital four children and four adults from the same family died in a landslide, though details of what exactly happened remained
sketchy.
A tropical weather front sweeping over most of Central America brought torrential downpours and caused flash flooding all over the region.
In neighbouring Guatemala, the government declared a red alert on its Pacific Coast, where dozens of communities were cut off by floods.
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