Fresh floods threaten already-hit Guatemala village

GUATEMALA CITY, June 3 (Reuters) People were evacuated from a Guatemalan village buried during last year's Hurricane Stan after days of heavy rain sparked fears of a repeat of a mudslide that killed as many as 1,400 people.

Authorities evacuated the lakeside village of Panabaj and two neighboring hamlets after days of downpours sent rivers of water crashing down nearby mountains, Benedicto Giron of Guatemala's disaster prevention network said.

Many of the evacuees had been living in temporary plastic shelters after their houses were destroyed in October by a deadly slick of mud, rocks and trees that buried as many as 1,400 people alive and left thousands homeless.

The hamlet on the banks of idyllic tourist haven Lake Atitlan bore the brunt of Stan, which killed more than 2,000 people in Central America last year during a particularly destructive storm season.

Guatemala was the hardest hit by the storm and has been slow to recover. Panabaj community leaders are concerned the government is ill-prepared for a 2006 hurricane season which experts say could be nearly as destructive.

Survivors from Panabaj were relocated to temporary shelters built by the government and international aid organisations where they have been living without news of permanent housing.

REUTERS SI BST1018