It has Rained a Lot!

Here in Guerrero and in Guatemala.

``"A wall of earth fell on a bus and around 100 local people organized themselves to dig out the victims," said fire department spokesman Sergio Vasquez. "Then another landslide came along and buried them." ''

``"It's a national tragedy," President Alvaro Colom told a news conference, adding that nearly 12,000 people had been evacuated to emergency shelters. "It's painful that poor people are paying the price of natural disasters." ''

``Colom appealed to people to stay off the nation's highways due to the threat of further landslides and said rescue efforts would be suspended if more rain fell in the affected areas.

More than 150 people died in Guatemala in May when Tropical Storm Agatha drenched Central America, triggering landslides.

Record amounts of rain have fallen in parts of Guatemala and southeastern Mexico this year. Thousands of people in the Mexican Gulf of Mexico state of Tabasco have been forced from their homes by flooding.

Water levels behind some dams in the region have risen so high that floodgates have been opened. ''