Guatemala City, Guatemala (CNN) -- The toll from torrential rains and landslides in Guatemala moved higher Monday, with disaster officials reporting 44 dead, 56 injured and 16 missing.
Around 11,500 residents have been evacuated and 9,000 have taken refuge in shelters, the nation's disaster agency said. More than 43,000 people are at risk from the punishing rain, said to be the strongest in 60 years.
President Alvaro Colom, who declared a national emergency Saturday, decreed that Monday would be a day of mourning.
Over the weekend, authorities closed parts of the Inter-American Highway after rains washed out sections of the road and caused at least two accidents.
The first, near kilometer marker 82, claimed 12 lives when a bus was buried, according to Colom's office.
A landslide at kilometer marker 171, knocked a number of vehicles and a bus off the road. When nearby residents rushed to the scene to help, a second mudslide crashed down on the exact same spot, said the emergency agency.
CNN
