With 124 dead, rescuers seek Salvador survivors

VERAPAZ, El Salvador (AP) — Dozens are missing in El Salvador, where floods and landslides have left at least 124 people dead.

Soldiers and townspeople are digging through rock and debris in a desperate search for survivors, using shovels and sometimes bare hands. Their efforts are being hampered by collapsed walls, boulders and downed power lines blocking heavy machinery.

Days of heavy rains sent mud and boulders rolling down the slopes of a volcano before dawn yesterday, burying homes and cars in a town of about 30 miles outside the capital, San Salvador.

One survivor described the slide as "something black, like a huge wave." She climbed on the roof of a neighbor's house without knowing if her 71-year-old mother and teenage nieces escaped. She found her mother and one of girls, but the other remains missing.

El Salvador's president declared a national emergency. On local television, he said "the images that we have seen today are of a devastated country."

Almost 7,000 people have seen their homes damaged by landslides or cut off by floodwaters.

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Sound of helicopters flying in and out

This is the sound of helicopters as they transport residents to safety.

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Sound of floodwaters rushing down a street

This is the sound of floodwaters rushing down a street after heavy rains triggered mudslides.

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Sound of rescuers sloshing through floodwaters

This is the sound of rescuers sloshing through floodwaters as they assist residents trying to evacuate.

<<APPHOTO ABD111 (11/09/09)>>

: A shirt splattered in mud hangs in a flooded home in Verapaz, El Salvador, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009. Mud and rock slides caused by rain-fueled floods killed at least 124 people throughout El Salvador and left about five dozen missing, authorities said.

<<APPHOTO ROM127 (11/08/09)>>

: People make their way through a flooded street in Verapaz, some 125 km east from San Salvador, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Mud and rock slides caused by rain-fueled floods killed at least 91 people throughout El Salvador and left about five dozen missing.