GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Now a tropical depression, former Hurricane Julia drenched Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains Monday after it reemerged in the Pacific following a pounding of Nicaragua.
Thirteen people were reported dead as a direct or indirect result of the storm.
Guatemala’s disaster prevention agency said five people died after a hillside collapsed on their house in Alta Verapaz province, burying them.
Police said two people died in the eastern El Salvador town of Guatajiagua after heavy rains caused a wall of their home to collapse.
Another man in El Salvador and one in Nicaragua died when trees fell on them.
Rivers overflowed their banks and El Salvador declared a state of emergency and opened 80 storm shelters.
In neighbouring Honduras, a 22-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man died after they were swept away by currents, and two people died when their boat swamped or capsized in northern Honduras.