Aid workers are warning that severe flooding across Central America could worsen the impact of high food prices on the region's vulnerable communities.
Floods and landslides have forced tens of thousands from their homes, damaged roads and bridges, and devastated thousands of hectares of bean and maize crops. One Honduras-based aid worker said the flooding there was worse than that caused by Hurricane Mitch, which killed some 10,000 people in Central America ten years ago.
In Honduras - the worst-hit country, where at least 24 deaths have been reported and around 130,000 people affected - President Manuel Zelaya has declared a national state of emergency and requested international aid. He has warned of a major disaster as rivers burst their banks.
The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday that an additional 70,000 people had been affected in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize, with more than 12,000 people taking refuge in shelters in the five countries. El Salvador has also been hit by flooding, landslides and crop losses.
UNICEF said life-saving supplies were quickly running out in Honduras, because it had already used up many of the blankets, medical and hygiene kits, and other relief items it had stockpiled before the storm season. The agency warned of the increased risk of malnutrition and waterborne diseases for children.
"If we add, in a situation such as this, massive damage to crops that exacerbates already-high food prices, we've got a time-bomb in the making," said Nils Kastberg, UNICEF's regional director.
"We've already seen one dramatic example of storms aggravating an existing food crisis this year in Haiti, where the numbers of malnourished children coming to UNICEF-supported nutrition centres rose substantially in the wake of the storms there."
Millions of poor people in Central America and Haiti have struggled to buy enough food for their families as the price of basic staples like corn and beans rose to record levels earlier this year.
Aid agency Mercy Corps warned the Honduran floods could become more severe because the rainy season is expected to continue for another six weeks.
"This flooding is worse than what was caused by (Hurricane) Mitch in 1998, although that happened in a few days, where this has been the accumulation of a week and a half of constant rain," said Chet Thomas, Mercy Corp's representative in Honduras.
The agency is distributing food, blankets and tarpaulins to families who've been forced from their homes by landslides and floods.
The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said some areas were cut off, and only accessible by boat. Medical teams needed to be mobilised across the country and experts in water, sanitation and disaster management, as well as assessment teams, were being sent into the field, the agencies said.
The Central American floods have been caused by a series of tropical storms that have moved slowly and steadily across the region during this year's hurricane season, pouring heavy rains onto the land below, according to UNICEF.
In Costa Rica, where the government has also declared a state of emergency, precipitation since mid-October has reached the highest levels in 40 years, according to a report from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It said 6 deaths had been reported, and 92,000 people were affected in 470 communities. All main roads in the north and south have been blocked by landslides.
The Red Cross has released almost $250,000 from its emergency relief fund to enable national branches in Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua to deliver aid to 1,500 families.
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