The Honduran government decided to start controlled openings of the floodgates at the country's principal hydroelectric dam, “El Cajón,” located in the northwestern department of Cortés, to prevent a worsening of floods in the wake of the intense rainfall of recent weeks. The level of water in the reservoir is 285 meters, and “so much rain has fallen that we are reaching the storage limit, and it is better to begin controlled preventive discharges, of some 300 cubic meters per second,” Lisandro Rosales, of the Permanent Contingency Committee, told Tierramérica.

The decision was taken after President Porfirio Lobo visited the area, flying over the reservoir in a plane.

The heavy rains, blamed on the cyclical climate phenomenon known as “La Niña,” have caused 21 deaths, flooding across most of the country, crop losses and damage to roads.