ISSUES:Scores die in El Salvador floods


At least 91 people have been killed in El Salvador by flooding following days of heavy rain, the government says.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in five regions, Interior Minister Humberto Centeno said.

Mr Centeno said the capital San Salvador and central San Vicente province were the hardest-hit regions.

Journalist Juan Carlos Barahona told the BBC that San Vicente had almost been completely cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges.

Mr Barahona, of the El Salvador daily La Prensa Grafica, told the BBC that the other worst affected areas were La Libertad, La Paz and Cuscatlan.

Mr Centeno said 60 people were still missing, and about 7,000 more were in shelters.

"We have, unfortunately, 91 fatalities," he said, raising the death toll from 50 earlier in the day.

Hurricane Ida

In the town of San Vicente rescue workers pulled bodies from the wreckage of houses.

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"We rescued a man this morning who had fractures, and a little girl," resident Cristian Aguilar told Reuters news agency.

"My son and I crossed through the floodwater and brought them here, and now she is with her parents."

News of the deaths came as Hurricane Ida, which has now strengthened to a category two storm, was poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico.

However, Ida, which passed to the east of El Salvador three days ago, is not thought to have caused the severe rains.

The BBC's weather centre said El Salvador's rains were caused by a separate, low pressure system.

Meanwhile, a hurricane watch has been issued for coastal Louisiana and Mississippi by US forecasters.

It is estimated that Ida could reach the United State's northern Gulf Coast by Tuesday, but forecasters have not included New Orleans in the watch.

In forecasting terms, a watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. A hurricane warning remains in force for parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Ida was declared a hurricane on Thursday while it was off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, before it weakened.


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