Eta mostly affected the north coast and left thousands without homes. Massive flooding of many cities, bridges washed out. Even the international airport in San Pedro Sula is flooded, under several feet of water and won’t be reopened until mid-December at the earliest.
Iota has affected us in the southwest a bit more than ETA, though all the rain will affect the already swollen rivers on the coast. One parish, not far from the parish of Dulce Nombre, has been badly hit, first by ETA and now with IOTA, with massive flooding, 93 homes destroyed in one municipality, and much, much more.
In our parish, the rains connected with Eta provoked some mudslides which destroyed some houses and closed some roads (and made others treacherous.) A good number of trees fell, because of the strong winds and the rain-soaked land. A number of houses were lost due to mudslides.
Iota came on top of this, although we had a few sunny days between the hurricanes. But when the rains and winds came, they came with incredible force – and it’s still raining, though not continuous and with less force.
A large portion of our parish, including Plan Grande where I live, had no electricity for about three days. Downed power lines and problems with some equipment damage caused this for thousands of people. In addition, a major landslide near Candelaria closed off the one road that provides access to more than 18 aldeas. It was repaired provisionally in a day, with about half the road fallen, but it is still muddy and slippery.
El Zapote Santa Rosa, an aldea just ten minutes away from Plan Grande was incommunicado, until Friday when a local coffee grower got some machinery to come and fix one part if the road, so that the village would have some access to and from Dulce Nombre. But still there is no access to aldeas north of there, due to mudslides, roads fallen away, and other obstacles. That means that more than fourteen communities have no access to Dulce Nombre. There are people who lost their houses or whose houses are in danger. They have moved in with relatives or into three places where they have set up shelters. It appears that the local people have matters under control - even trying to recover some water sources in the community, since their water lines from springs have been destroyed.
Many communities have only access on foot. In addition, many of the communities have not had electricity since Monday and cell phone service of the most common provider was almost non-existent.
As of Sunday, there was some electricity and cell phone service in that part of the parish, but there was no access by vehicles.
I am trying to be in contact with folks to see what is happening, what are the needs, and how we might begin to help better. There are isolated villages, with needs for food and more, but the only way to get supplies in is on foot or with horses and mules.
In the parish of Dulce Nombre, we have had some serious damage, with houses destroyed by landslides. Due to damage to roads, many parts of the parish are inaccessible. Electricity was off in many places for more than six days and there has been no cellphone coverage in many parts. Many places don’t have access to water.
Many people have also lost their crops and their coffee fields.
The parish has received aid from local sources, as well as donations from Hondurans in the US. The Santa Rosa Rotary club arrived today to give out some aid in Dulce Nombre. But a major problem is getting aid to the countryside, to those communities which are isolated because of landslides.
Thursday, I want with Padre German and Fernando, a seminarian who is with us this year, to Vega Redonda. We couldn’t get there the normal way since a major road had been washed out. We had to go through a back road, crossing a stream two times and navigating a slippery hill. We got there and distributed some water. Padre went to see an area where there had been a landslide. Some of the people returned with us to stay with family who live in Dulce Nombre and Concepción.
Friday, we went to the mountain village of Vertientes. We again had to use an alternative route along slippery muddy roads, up and down hills. There had been two major landslides in Vertientes. One landslide left four houses destroyed and at least two more in danger. Padre went to see another site int he village, about an hour away, where more houses were destroyed.
I fell trying to walk through the fields and went to a clinic in Santa Rosa on Saturday. No broken ribs, but I’m sore. Also, I had to take a COVID-19n test. Negative!
On Saturday, the pastor went to San José El Bosque which is almost completely isolated.
I have been in contact today with someone in the remote village of San Marcos Las Pavas which has had at least five houses destroyed. The village has been isolated since ETA and there is no access for vehicles. In addition, it is in a part of the parish which has no access to Dulce Nombre because of major landslides and more, leaving about 14 communities isolated. I managed to call someone from Delicias, Concepción, which is isolated. There were four breaks in the road from Delicias to the villages north of there. The problem is that some communities don’t have enough food supplies – and so they were trying to transport some rice and other supplies on horseback.
We are just beginning to get an idea of the effects of the hurricane and what will be needed for reconstruction. Right now, we are concentrating on finding ways to save lives and protect people.
This week there are forecasts of rain every day and so recovery will be even slower.
I'm well, even though the water system in Plan Grande in not working due to the destruction of pipes from the water source - even metal water pipes have been affected by the landslides. But I have water from a tank as well as from barrels collecting rain water. And I have bottled drinking water.
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