Another huge factor was environmental neglect. Locally, deforestation multiplied Mitch's damage . Five days of torrential rain would have caused damage anywhere, but there would have been fewer lethal mud slides if the land in Honduras and Nicaragua had been covered with trees. Central America is one of the most deforested parts of the world, losing 118 acres of trees an hour . El Salvador lost only a few people from mudslides.
Trees hold the soil together and help it absorb rain.
When the land is stripped of trees, heavy rains sweep mud and minerals into the rivers, swelling and clotting the water and increasing its power to destroy. The erosion caused by Mitch will speed this vicious circle and increase the destructive power of future storms. Deforestation has other consequences. It reduces soil fertility, crucial in a country of subsistence farmers. In addition, because less rain is reaching the subsoil, aquifers dry up and the country begins to run out of water.