KEY MESSAGES
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Tropical Storm Julia drenched northern Central America with torrential rains that triggered deadly floods and landslides, compounding the already devasting impacts of an active rainy season.
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At least 54 people are dead and nearly 1 million have been affected across northern Central America.
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While assessments are still ongoing, it is apparent that Julia’s impacts have been quite severe, exacerbating pre-existing multi-sectoral needs.
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El Salvador and Guatemala have declared national emergencies in response to Julia, while Honduras had already declared a 90-day national emergency for the rainy season prior to the storm.
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In Belize, flooding is expected to continue in the Belize District, home to more than 95,000 people.
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El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have multi-year Humanitarian Response Plans (2021-2022) with activities in the areas affected by Julia. However, these Plans remain significantly underfunded making it difficult for response efforts to keep pace with mounting humanitarian needs.
851K People affected in Guatemala (Julia)
Source: CONRED
188K People affected in Honduras (rainy season and Julia)
Source: COPECO
180K Acutely food-insecure people (IPC Phase 3 or above) have been affected in El Salvador
Source: WFP
200K People left without electricity and drinking water in Nicaragua
Source: Government of Nicaragua
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Hurricane Julia made landfall on 9 October on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a Category 1 storm, though it quickly weakened into a tropical storm later that afternoon. After exiting Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, Julia battered El Salvador,
Honduras and Guatemala with heavy rains, damaging scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people across many of the areas affected by twin storms Eta and Iota in 2020. Before pommeling northern Central America, Julia triggered flooding and landslides in Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
Belize: There are 111 people in five shelters in the Cayo District. Humanitarian assistance, including water delivered by trucks, is being provided to affected people. Rising waters from the Belize River Valley are expected to increase flooding in the Belize District, home to over 95,000 people, in the coming days. Initial damage assessment reports are expected to be released on 19 October.
El Salvador: In El Salvador, approximately 1,688 people remain in 49 shelters (down from 2,835 people in 83 shelters) set up by the National Civil Protection System across the country. The Government declared a 15-day state of emergency, ending on 23 October, to facilitate response efforts to Tropical Storm Julia. Preliminary assessments from WFP indicate that 180,000 people who were already facing acute food insecurity (IPC 3 and 4) have been affected by heavy rains, with more than 150 mm of rainfall recorded.
Guatemala: Some 851,000 people in Guatemala have been affected by Tropical Storm Julia, adding to the more than 5 million already affected by the rainy season. Julia triggered devastating floods and landslides that damaged homes, schools, health centres and road infrastructure. More than 7,000 people remain in temporary shelters. The seven most affected departments are: Izabal, Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Quiché, Petén, Zacapa and Suchitepéquez. The Government has declared a 30-day state of emergency.
Honduras: In Honduras, some 144,000 people have been affected by the passage of Julia, bringing the total population affected by the rainy season to more than 188,000 people. The compounding impacts have been felt across the country, with 15 of the country’s 18 departments (some 820 communities) registering varying degrees of damages. There are more than 12,300 people across 141 shelters in 8 departments (Atlántida, El Paraíso, Comayagua, Cortes, Francisco Morazán, Santa Barbara, Valle, and Yoro). In the department of Gracias a Dios, more than 20 per cent of inhabitants (some 24,000 people) are facing serious livelihood and food security challenges.
Nicaragua: In Nicaragua, more than 8,000 homes have suffered varying degrees of damage while some 200,000 people have been left without electricity and access to drinking water. The South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, home to afro-descendant and indigenous populations, has been hardest hit, especially the municipalities of Bluefields, Laguna de Perlas and El Rama.
RESPONSE
Although assessments are still ongoing, it is apparent that Julia’s impacts have been quite severe across all northern Central American countries, with reports of significant damage to housing and related displacement, agriculture, and health and educational infrastructure, adding to accumulative damages and losses from an already intense rainy season.
Humanitarian Country Teams and United Nations Emergency Technical Teams have been activated and continue to support Government response efforts including the identification and assistance of the most vulnerable populations. Humanitarian actors have already provided assistance in collaboration with their civil protection counterparts but are still waiting the final outcomes of damage assessments for a better understanding of critical needs and possible gaps that need addressing.
El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras each have ongoing multi-year 2021-2022 Humanitarian Response Plans with activities in many of the areas affected by heavy rains and related hazards, however, these Plans have received relatively low funding. For more information about the HRP funding status or to report contributions please visit the Financial Tracking Service (FTS).
Disclaimer
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.