Gracias a Dios News

The Honduran Navy has evacuated 258 people from Gracias a Dios department over the past 24 hours as intense rain and flooding from the Kruta River swelled, with 112 rescued from the hardest-hit communities of Tikiraya and Lakunka.

A court in Puerto Lempira ordered Stedman Reyes Valle held in pretrial detention on suspicion of illegal weapons possession and drug trafficking.

Heavy rains have inundated communities in Gracias a Dios on Honduras's northern coast, prompting the Navy to evacuate 146 people from Baicán and Rats Disguan to a shelter, with further rainfall expected to increase the risk.

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck the Caribbean Sea northeast of Gracias a Dios on July 18 at 10:08 a.m., with a depth of 30 kilometers; Copeco reported no damage or injuries on land.

National Police rescued a five-month-old child who had been kidnapped and was being transported in a suitcase in Puerto Lempira; the infant has been reunited with his mother.

Honduras's disaster agency is coordinating damage assessments and pre-positioning humanitarian aid for communities in the Moskitia region of Gracias a Dios affected by heavy rains, with deliveries challenging due to geographic and climate barriers.

Wampusirpe's mayor warned of rising waters on the Patuca River threatening new floods after heavy rains forced over 160 families to evacuate and destroyed crops and livestock across the municipality, with roads cut off and more precipitation forecast.

Honduras's national disaster agency elevated Gracias a Dios department to yellow alert on July 15 and maintained green alert in five Olancho municipalities for 24 hours as persistent rainfall from an upper-level trough raises river levels and flood risk along the Caribbean coast.

Heavy rains over the weekend caused the Patuca River to overflow in three municipalities, forcing 160 families to evacuate and destroying crops including rice, cassava, plantains, corn, and cacao for 200–500 families in the region.

Honduras's disaster-management authority issued a 72-hour green alert for Gracias a Dios and five municipalities in Olancho due to intense rains from a weather system expected to bring flooding and landslides through July 16.

Heavy rains caused the Patuca River to overflow in Wampusirpi, Gracias a Dios, affecting about 100 people and destroying crops, with the mayor warning the municipality remains at alert as rainfall continues.

An aerial reconnaissance by Honduras's military environmental battalion found three active illegal mining sites with at least 10 workers and seven floating dredges in the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, plus an illegal road network facilitating deforestation in Gracias a Dios.

Honduras has installed a hyperbaric chamber at Puerto Lempira hospital in Gracias a Dios to treat decompression sickness among Miskito divers, fulfilling a ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and eliminating dangerous emergency transfers.

The Honduran Navy located three fishermen from Gracias a Dios who went missing on June 7 when their boat's engine failed, leaving them stranded three nautical miles off Caratasca Bar; all three were found alive and are receiving medical care.

Honduras's Air Force airlifted three patients requiring complex specialist care from Puerto Lempira, Gracias a Dios, to Tegucigalpa under the military's 'Alas para la Salud' program serving isolated communities.

Honduras Armed Forces troops transported health workers from the Mocorón Health Center to the village of Rondín, Gracias a Dios, enabling a vaccination drive for children and families in the isolated region.