Raging brown floodwater and banks of mud covered chunks of Central America and southern Mexico on Thursday after days of torrential rain and mudslides killed at least 162 across the region, Reuters reported. Rescue workers battled to get to remote villages, where hillsides have collapsed under the downpour, and thousands of evacuees from urban shantytowns hunkered down in emergency shelters as rain continued to pound the region. The death toll soared on Wednesday as rivers swollen by rain from Hurricane Stan burst their banks in southern Mexico, and emergency teams found dozens of bodies buried under banks of mud in remote towns in Guatemala and El Salvador. As troops tried to reach flooded areas with drinking water, food and medical kits, authorities estimated several thousand homes were destroyed across the region. Guatemala reported 79 dead, but the government said the figure could rise. Unconfirmed reports said hundreds may have been killed in an isolated region in the west of the country. Entire families were missing after a sea of mud, trees and rocks descended on the hill town of Tecpan, west of the capital Guatemala City, destroying more than 30 flimsy homes. Stan dumped half the amount of water on Guatemala in five days that Mitch brought in three, meteorologists said. The rains were forecast to continue all week. Greenpeace said the flooding in Mexico was made worse by deforestation, as water rushed down bare hillsides. It urged the authorities to start conserving forests and mangroves.
