We are in contact with our partners in El Salvador as they assess the damage caused by major flooding and heavy rains in the country and plan their response
More than 120 people have been confirmed as dead and thousands left homeless in the country, which has been on a state of alert since last Thursday after being battered by heavy rains. The government has declared a national emergency.
The capital San Salvador and central San Vicente province were the hardest-hit regions, though other badly affected areas include the capital San Salvador, Texecuangos, Mexicanos, Totonacatepeque, La Libertad, La Paz and Cuscatlán.
Clare Dixon, CAFOD head of Latin America, is currently in Suchitoto, about an hour's drive from the capital San Salvador, and says many shelters have been set up in schools and other public buildings.
Torrential rains
She reports: "The constant rains, heavy since Thursday as well as heavy showers earlier in the week, reached crisis point on Saturday night with torrential rains throughout the night.
"We woke up to find that the two access roads, to and from Suchitoto-San Salvador: one to the South connecting with the Panamerican highway, and one to the west connecting with the Northern Trunk Road (troncal del Norte) were completely blocked by landslides, rivers of mud, fallen trees, collapsed bridges.
"One area close to us where people have been killed is Aguilares with five deaths, about 12 miles away. As the crisis point was in the middle of the night, the mudslides buried people in their houses as they slept.
"Worst affected is San Vicente, just east of where we are. Around 335 cubic millimetres of rain fell there in the space of just four hours. An area within the municipality of Verapaz (San Vicente) has disappeared under the mud.
Large parts of El Salvador are without electricity or clean water and remain cut off from assistance. Collapsed bridges and damaged roads have worsened the isolation of some communities.
As the intensity of the rain becomes less severe, places which were inaccessible yesterday are now being reached and further damage is being found. 40% of the national production of corn and beans, the staple diet of Salvadorans, is thought to have been destroyed.
Neighbouring Nicaragua has also been hit by heavy rains which have left many people homeless.
The rains have coincided with the nearby passing of Hurricane Ida, which is currently moving through the Gulf of Mexico, posing a threat to oil and gas fields there. It is next expected to weaken as it heads towards the US coast between Louisiana and Florida.
We ask that you keep the people of El Salvador in your thoughts and prayers.
