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Tropical storm Agatha affects El Salvador, Honduras
May-31-2010

Salvadorian President Mauricio Funes decreed on Sunday a red alert in all the country due to the storm Agatha, which has killed at least six people and made 5,000 people evacuated in the country.

"We have decided to declare the red alert in all the national territory," Funes said during a press conference.

Meanwhile, Civil Protection director Jorge Melendez said they have confirmed the death of six people and other two are reported missing.

Among the deaths there is a 10-year-old girl who was hit by a thunder in Sensuntepeque.

With the red alert the public and private institutions give the necessary resources to assist the emergency. Schools were closed across the country.

According to Public Works Minister Gerson Martinez, there have been 139 landslides in all the country, mainly in La Libertad department, where the traffic is blocked.

Meanwhile, the storm Agatha also caused the rivers to overflow, blackouts and landslides in Honduras, the Permanent Commission of Emergencies said on Sunday.

In Nacaome city in south of the country, many rivers overflowed and almost 30 families were taken to shelters.

Part of the Pan American highway, main transit between El Salvador and Honduras, was interrupted.

The Commission has kept the yellow alert in seven of the 18 departments in the country.

The airport of Toncontin in Tegucigalpa continued closed due to the lack of visibility, after the flights were canceled for half day on Saturday.

Since the rains have begun in Honduras two weeks before, there have been reported four deaths of people, overflowed rivers and landslides in the south and center of the country.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo and Tegucigalpa's mayor Ricardo Alvarez toured the most vulnerable zones in the capital Saturday.