MEXICO CITY / SAN SALVADOR: At least 130 people have been killed in floods and mudslides caused by Hurricane Ida in El Salvador, officials said Monday.
Interior Minister Humberto Centeno said 49 children were among the dead.
The hurricane wrecked havoc after it made landfall in the country Sunday.
Emergency chief Jorge Melendez said over a hundred mudslides occurred in different parts of the country. Some 209 houses were destroyed and 18 bridges were damaged.
Authorities have set up 87 temporary relief shelters to accommodate more than 10,000 affected people, he added.
Centeno said the San Vicente province was the worst hit. He said 600 people in the province are missing after the hurricane.
President Mauricio Funes declared a state of emergency in the country after visiting the worst affected areas.
"The pictures we've seen today are those of devastated nation. The magnitude of the damage is as yet incalculable," the president said in a message Sunday night, and described the day "as one of the most tragic" in the country.