Floods drive 5,500 Nicaraguans from their homes

June 21, 2000
Web posted at: 8:04 PM EDT (0004 GMT)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, June 21 (Reuters) -- Heavy rain and flooding on Nicaragua's south Atlantic coast have driven some 5,500 people from their homes, officials said on Wednesday.

The Civil Defense agency said 400 people fled to improvised emergency shelters after the Escondido River overflowed in Rama city, some 180 miles (300 km) east of the capital of Nicaragua, a poor Central American nation of 4 million people.

Another 5,067 people sought shelter in the homes of friends and family in the area around Rama, where 600 houses were completely flooded after 24 hours of heavy rain, the agency said in a report.

Flooding is common in Nicaragua and other Central American nations during the sub-tropical rainy season, which lasts from May to November.

Nicaragua was one of several countries devastated by floods and landslides during the torrential rains brought by 1998's Hurricane Mitch, which killed thousands of people in the region.

In a national message on state-owned Radio Nicaragua, President Arnoldo Aleman said rains were forecast to continue for at least 24 more hours, and called on people living in Rama and nearby areas to evacuate to higher ground.

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