Hurricane Stan kills 162 in Mexico, Central America

TECPAN, Guatemala, Thursday (Reuters) Huge mudslides, flooding and torrential rains from Hurricane Stan have killed at least 162 people in Central America and southern Mexico, rescue workers said.

Relentless rain pounded mountain villages and urban shanty towns across the impoverished region, and hillsides collapsed under four days of downpours.

The death toll more than doubled on Wednesday when rivers burst their banks in southern Mexico, and emergency teams found dozens more victims buried under banks of mud in remote Guatemalan towns.

By the evening, the death toll in Guatemala stood at 79 people, but the government said that figure could rise. Unconfirmed reports said hundreds may have been killed in an isolated region in the west of the country.

Entire families were missing after a river of mud, trees and rocks descended on the hill town of Tecpan, west of the capital, destroying more than 30 flimsy homes.

"A lot of people could not get out," said Samuel Cif, a local peasant.Two dead children were found and villagers were too scared of more landslides to dig for other victims. Clothing, trees and the roofs of houses were strewn around and heavy rain still pounded the area.

The tragedy brought back memories of Hurricane Mitch, which killed some 10,000 people in 1998 in Central America, mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua, with mudslides and flooding.Stan dumped half the amount of water on Guatemala in five days that Mitch brought in only three, meteorologists said.

"I was like a worm sliding around in the mud," said Alexander Flores, whose home on the edge of San Salvador was buried under six feet (2 metres) of dirt and rocks.

"I just heard two shouts from my mother, saying, 'Alex, Alex,' maybe for me to help her or her trying to save me," he said.

His mother and five children, including a newborn baby, all died, he said.

Along with the 79 dead in Guatemala, 62 people have been killed in El Salvador and another 21 total in Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras, authorities said.