Agatha Packs a Punch

Background: Over the weekend areas of Central America were devastated by tropical storm Agatha. The tropical storm ravaged through Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, leaving 115 dead. Of all the countries that the storm passed through, Guatemala was hit the hardest. Emergency officials have confirmed 92 deaths as well as 59 injured, and 54 missing just in Guatemala. Around 112,000 Guatemalans have been evacuated and 29,000 are living in temporary shelters due to destruction to homes from the tropical storm. Guatemala is in a state of emergency due to massive mudslides and rapidly rising river levels. Numerous buildings and homes have been obliterated by the storm, as well as 13 bridges. In Guatemala City, a giant sink hole was created by tropical storm Agatha that swallowed up an entire intersection as well as a three story building and a house. Classes have been cancelled nationwide throughout Guatemala. In Honduras 14 deaths have been confirmed and 3,500 people have been evacuated. In El Salvador there have been 9 confirmed deaths.

Opinion: Overall, tropical storm Agatha has been quite devastating to Central America, particularly Guatemala. Now that Agatha has been downgraded from a "tropical storm" to a "tropical depression" at least the clean-up process can begin for these countries. Clean-up for most countries shouldn't be too horribly extensive, but for Guatemala it will take a massive effort to repair all of the damages done to several cities. In countries such as Honduras and El Salvador it shouldn't be too long before normalcy can return to the lives of most citizens however. The single biggest problem in terms of physical damage caused by this storm is the giant sink hole created in Guatemala City, which seems almost impossible to do anything about due to the enormous size of the hole. This hole just happens to have swallowed an entire street intersection, which is bound to cause fairly major traffic problems. Hopefully the Guatemalan government can handle this natural disaster and make the best of their resources while making repairs to their nation.