- Over 300 communities remain cut off due to severe flooding and landslides in Mexico.
- The death toll is now at least 64, with 65 people still reported missing.
- The heavy rains were attributed to two tropical storms in the Pacific.
Following torrential rains last week, more than 300 communities in central and eastern Mexico have been cut off by flooding and landslides.
Both civilian workers and soldiers have been working to restore access to cut-off areas and provide aid to those in need.
“Reopening roads is one of our greatest urgencies,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday, per CNN. “We have to secure air bridges, food supplies, water and check on how each person is faring.”
According to The New York Times, the Mexican government on Monday confirmed that at least 64 have died due to torrential rains. Officials also reported that 65 others are missing across five affected states.
The death toll is expected to continue to increase in the coming days as search and rescue teams work to reach areas cut off by landslides.
According to NPR, Mexico’s Civil Protection agency reported that the heavy rains killed people in at least four states. There were 29 killed in Veracruz, 21 in Hidalgo, at least 13 killed in Puebla and one child died in a landslide in Querétaro.
The rains were triggered by the convergence of two tropical storms off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean. These rains come at the tail end of an unusually heavy rainy season across the country.
“There were no scientific or meteorological conditions that could have indicated to us that the rainfall would be of this magnitude,” Sheinbaum told reporters, per The New York Times.
Where was the worst damage done?
The states hardest hit by the rains were Veracruz, Hidalgo and Puebla, per CNN. Veracruz received 24 inches of rain in just four days and the state’s Gov. Rocío Nahle said over 300,000 people were affected in the state alone.
Sheinbaum’s administration estimates that around 100,000 homes were impacted by floods and landslides. There are still dozens of communities that remain isolated, requiring food and water to be flown in, according to The New York Times.
In Poza Rica, the nearby Cazones River rose to 13 feet in some areas.
Across the impacted areas, dozens of health centers were damaged, including one in Álamo, Veracruz, that had all its equipment destroyed by floodwaters higher than 6 feet. Some medical staff are working outdoors, per CNN.
What are government leaders doing to help?
Across impacted areas, thousands of soldiers and rescue teams search for the missing while others work to deliver aid. The government has helicopters carrying supplies to isolated communities as private construction firms work to reopen key roads.
Sheinbaum said that her government has enough resources to respond and will “spare no expense during this emergency,” per CNN.
So far, over 7,300 Army soldiers and National Guard members have been deployed for search, recovery and evacuation efforts.
The government has also deployed health officials to begin fumigation to prevent outbreaks of dengue, a disease spread by mosquitoes.
The rains also caused power supply issues, leaving more than a quarter million people without electricity. The country’s national power company said on Monday that much of the lost power had been restored, according to The New York Times.
