Honduras: Floods - Oct 2018

Heavy rains that started on 4 October in Honduras have caused flooding and landslides across the country. Most damage has been reported in Francisco Morazán, Valle, and Choluteca departments, where a red alert was issued by the government. 12,076 people have been affected by the floods. 963 homes were damaged, including 169 flooded, and nine completely destroyed. Among them, 7,234 people have been evacuated, and 6,789 moved to 78 temporary shelters. (ACAPS, 11 Oct 2018)

Two low pressure systems, one in the Atlantic and the other in the Pacific, caused intense rainfall conditions, flash floods in several communities in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua since 5 October...According to figures of the National Emergency Operations Center (COEN) of COPECO, heavy rainfall left about 25,558 people affected and 9 dead. The number of people in shelter reached to 9,097 (as of October 12, 2,573 people remain in shelters); 11,552 people evacuated, and some 170 schools are damaged, eight bridges were affected as well as 63 roads, ten bridges destroyed, seven water systems damaged; 1,133 houses damaged and another 10 houses destroyed between the municipalities of Francisco Morazán, Choluteca and Valle. About 89 shelters were enabled (as of October 12, 28 shelters remained active), most of them in educational centers in the department of Choluteca, the most affected area...The Government is assisting the affected population and has distributed nearly 80 thousand pounds of food and non-food items and has allocated US $ 500,000 (12 million Lempiras) to attend the emergency. COPECO Maintains distribution and pre-positioning of humanitarian aid to the regional offices in the departments with Red Alert (Valle, Francisco Morazán and Choluteca). The Ministry of Education remain classes suspended within the red alert departments (Francisco Morazán, Choluteca and Valle). The United Nations Resident Coordinator has expressed to national authorities his willingness to support response actions if required. (OCHA, 13 Oct 2018)

Rain continues to fall as a new system is beginning to form. More rain is expected in Honduras over the next 24 hours. The Permanent Contingency Commission of Honduras (COPECO) maintains a yellow alert for Copán, Ocotepeque, Lempira, Intibucá, La Paz, Comayagua, Francisco Morazán, El Paraíso Valle and Choluteca. Authorities continue to provide assistance to 7,728 people affected. (ECHO, 18 Oct 2018)