Over 100 dead in El Salvador flooding

November 8th, 2009 Floods, mudslides kill 91 El Salvador, 60 missingVERAPAZ, El Salvador — Mud and boulders loosened by heavy rains swept down a volcano and partly buried a small town Sunday, swallowing up homes as flooding and landslides across El Salvador killed at least 91 people, authorities said. Hundreds of soldiers, police and residents dug through rock and debris in Verapaz looking for another 60 people missing from the mudslide, which struck before dawn Sunday while residents were still in their beds.

November 8th, 2009 Government: 91 dead in El Salvador floodingSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador's interior minister says the death toll is now 91 from floods and slides touched off by three days of heavy rains. Minister Humberto Centeno says 60 people are still missing, and about 7,000 more are in shelters.

November 8th, 2009 SAN SALVADOR - At least 40 people have been killed in floods caused by the hurricane Ida that swept El Salvador, interior minister said Sunday. The government has declared a state of emergency in five of the Central American nation's departments, Humberto Centeno told a press conference, Xinhua reported.

November 8th, 2009 Government: 91 dead in El Salvador floodingVERAPAZ, El Salvador — Mud and boulders loosened by heavy rains swept down a volcano and partly buried the town of Verapaz Sunday, swallowing up homes as flooding and landslides across El Salvador killed at least 91 people, authorities said. Hundreds of soldiers, police and residents dug through rock and debris looking for another five dozen people missing from the mudslide, which struck before dawn Sunday while people were still in their beds.

November 8th, 2009 MEXICO CITY/SAN SALVADOR - At least 90 people were killed as heavy rains prompted mudslides and flooding rivers in El Salvador, rescue workers said Sunday. The rainfall, which was prompted by a cold front and the remainders of Caribbean hurricane Ida, also caused havoc in other countries in the region, including southern Mexico, where more than 200,000 people were affected.

November 8th, 2009 El Salvador raises death toll from flooding to 124VERAPAZ, El Salvador — Civil defense officials in El Salvador have raised the death toll from rain-triggered floods and mudslides to 124, with another 60 people missing. Government Minister Humberto Centeno, who heads the Civil Protection agency, says the rising toll and President Mauricio Funes' declaration of a national emergency "changes the panorama" and means state officials will take a greater role in rescue and recovery efforts.

November 4th, 2009 SAN SALVADOR - The number of murders in El Salvador between Jan 1 and Nov 1 stands at 3,673, which is 40 percent more than during the same period last year, media reports said, citing official statistics. La Prensa Grafica newspaper based the figure on data from the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the medical examiner's office.

November 4th, 2009 El Salvador sends 2,500 soldiers to fight crimeSAN SALVADOR — El Salvador's defense minister says the army will send an additional 2,500 soldiers to crime-plagued parts of the country to increase security. Gen. David Munguia Payes says the troops will join 1,200 other soldiers carrying out joint patrols with police as part of the "Community Support" program.

November 3rd, 2009 El Salvador to honor priests killed by army in '89SAN SALVADOR — El Salvador's president says the country will award its highest honor to six Jesuit priests murdered by the army in 1989. President Mauricio Funes says the National Order of Jose Matias Delgado awards are a "public act of atonement" for mistakes by past governments.

September 6th, 2009 El Salvador finds boat with Bangladeshi migrantsSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The Salvadoran navy says it has found 76 migrants from as far away as Bangladesh, Nepal and Eritrea aboard a boat in the Pacific. Navy Capt. Maximiliano Corado says the boat was detected about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast, and "without doubt the final destination was to arrive in the United States." The migrants include 25 Bangladeshis, 25 Nepalese, 21 Eritreans and five Ecuadoreans.

July 27th, 2009 Report: 22 die in flooding in southwestern ChinaBEIJING — Heavy flooding hit China's southwestern Sichuan province, leaving at least 22 dead and another seven missing, state media said Monday. The official Xinhua News Agency said rainstorms pummeled a mountainous area in Panzhihua city late Sunday and early Monday.

July 5th, 2009 TEGUCIGALPA - The Honduran government installed after last week's coup Sunday prevented the return to the country of democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Alfredo San Martin, head of Honduras' Civil Aviation, said the plane carrying Zelaya was diverted to El Salvador.

June 16th, 2009 Midwest storms cause flooding, spawn 1 tornadoDREXEL, Mo. — Midwestern storms raised flooding concerns in already soggy areas and spawned at least one tornado.

June 4th, 2009 El Salvador to investigate Chavez claimsSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador is investigating claims by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that an assassination plot prevented him from visiting the Central American nation. Interior Minister Humberto Centeno gave no details about the investigation but said that he personally does not find it "strange" that Venezuelan intelligence detected a possible plot.

June 1st, 2009 Salvadoran pres puts wife, ex-guerrilla in CabinetSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — President-elect Mauricio Funes has appointed his wife and a former Marxist guerrilla to Cabinet posts just hours before starting his five-year term. Funes, the first Salvadoran president from the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, has named First Lady Vanda Pignato as minister of social inclusion.