- Title: MEXICO: Floods in the state of Tabasco affect close to 200,000 people
- Date: 5th October 2010
- Summary: MORE OF FLOODED HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIRECTOR OF SPANISH CIVIL PROTECTION, ROBERTO LOPEZ, SAYING "The slope and height of the river has reached nearly two metres in some parts. That means that if the river gets into localities, it will happen very fast and that's why we are considering this a high risk area." MORE OF FLOODED HOMES PEOPLE WALKING IN FLOODED STREET
- Embargoed: 20th October 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Mexico
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVADTCYQDJ8TXV4J034AFD2YLM0Q
- Story Text: About 196,000 people have been affected by intense flooding in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco caused by tropical cyclones that recently hit the area, state civil protection authorities said on Monday (October 04).
Entire neighbourhoods have been swamped by water reaching rooftops of homes, due to rivers Carrizal and Samaria bursting their banks as well as the opening of the region's Penitas dam.
One of the most impacted is the municipality of Centro, located on the outskirts of state capital Villahermosa. Another affected municipality was Centla.
Residents rescued what belongings they could from their homes, helped by marines.
Dogs and other household pets have also been left without a food, water or a home.
Flood victim, Daniel Martinez, said water had risen to nearly a metre inside homes.
"Water has risen to 80 to 90 cms inside our homes without mentioning the exterior."
The use of sandbags in some areas was useless as water had already engulfed streets and homes.
Flood victim, Maria Hernandez, complained her health was dwindling due to the adverse conditions.
"Look at my feet. That's why I bought my children to the medical centre. They all have diarrhea and fever."
Tabasco's director of civil protection, Roberto Lopez, said river levels in some parts posed a serious threat to communities which were being evacuated.
"The slope and height of the river has reached nearly two metres in some parts. That means that if the river gets into localities, it will happen very fast and that's why we are considering this a high risk area," Lopez said.
Some 10,000 people have been forced to seek shelter due to the flooding which has washed out roads in the swampy, low-lying state of 1.4 million inhabitants.
Extensive flooding in Tabasco was caused by Tropical Depression Matthew and other weather systems that dumped heavy rain in eastern and southern Mexico as well as Central America at the end of September.
Dozens of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were left homeless in 2007 in Mexico after heavy rainfall caused the most serious flooding in decades. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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