Hurricane Stan Pounds Mexico After Killing 56 In Central America

SHAKE AND BLOW

Red Cross rescue workers carry on a stretcher the body of one of the members of the Flores family killed by a mudslide 04 October, 2005 in Santa Marta neighbourhood, South of San Salvador, El Salvador. Heavy rains and floods from Hurricane Stan hit Central America over the weekend, killing 39 in El Salvador. AFP photo by Yuri Cortez.

San Andres Tuxtla, Mexico (AFP) Oct 04, 2005
Hurricane Stan slammed ashore on Mexico's oil-rich Gulf coast Tuesday, drenching much of the country's south after killing at least 56 people across Central America.

The storm packed maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour as it made landfall near Punta Roca Partida, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of the port city of Veracruz.

In the nearby city of San Andres Tuxtla, the storm uprooted trees and ripped roofs off houses.

Veracruz state governor Fidel Herrera said four people sustained minor injuries because of Stan, which left a trail of death and devastation across Central America before it strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane.

In El Salvador the death toll blamed on the torrential rains that have been falling since the weekend rose to 39 on Tuesday as a mudslide buried six people in San Jacinto, southwest of the capital San Salvador.

More than 14,000 people fled their homes, not only because of the storm, but also as a result of Saturday's eruption of the Santa Ana volacano, which killed two people.

Dozens of communities, most of them along the coastal region, were flooded as rivers burst their banks.

In Nicaragua, Stan was blamed for 10 deaths, including a 99-year-old man buried under a landslide. Another four were reported killed in Honduras.

Authorities said the storm caused three more deaths and left 47 people wounded in Guatemala, where more than 2,700 people evacuated their homes threatened by flooding.

The storm dumped torrential rains over much of southern Mexico, and earlier forced the evacuation of 270 workers from offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the state of Chiapas, dozens of homes were reportedly destroyed when a river burst its banks in the small town of Cuatan.

Rain also damaged 50 homes and flooded roads in the tourist resort of Cancun, on Mexico's Caribbean coast, according to local authorities.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned that the driving rain could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in the states of Veracruz and Puebla.

The storm is the 10th Atlantic hurricane this year.

This year's Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has been one of the deadliest and most active on record.

Hurricane Katrina, which slammed ashore on the US Gulf coast on August 29, ravaged New Orleans and coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, leaving an official death toll of more than 1,200 people.

SHAKE AND BLOW

Bush Says Business Sector Must Cover Cost Of Post-Katrina Recovery

Washington (AFP) Oct 04, 2005
US President George W. Bush on Tuesday said private business will have to pick up much of the tab for rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, saying there are limits to what the federal government can afford to pay.

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