- Title: MEXICO: RESCUE WORKERS FIND MORE BODIES IN HOMES DESTROYED BY FLOODS
- Date: 6th April 2004
- Summary: (W1) PIEDRAS NEGRAS, MEXICO (APRIL 6, 2004) (REUTERS) SLV RESCUE WORKERS INSIDE DESTROYED HOME SMV FAMILY MEMBERS CRYING SLV RESCUE WORKERS PLACING BODY ON STRETCHER SMV FAMILY MEMBERS CRYING SLV RESCUE WORKERS TAKING BODY AWAY
- Embargoed: 21st April 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PIEDRAS NEGRAS, MEXICO
- City:
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Disasters,Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA5Z9RSDYRSV0OK94ZUO89DU9AI
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Death toll in northern Mexico rises as rescue workers continue pulling bodies from homes destroyed by flash floods.
Rescue workers pulled three more bodies from ruined houses in northern Mexico on Tuesday (April 6, 2004) taking to 34 the death toll from flash floods that ripped through this normally arid town near the U.S. border.
As helicopters scoured the devastated landscape for more than a dozen missing people, rescuers on the ground searched for three young children swept away by raging waters after a tree they were sheltering in collapsed.
In Piedras Negras, rescue workers cleared mud and fallen branches and mourners waited for the ground to dry out so they could bury their dead.
Torrential rain early on Monday caused the Escondido River to burst its banks and send a deluge of water into Piedras Negras, situated across the Rio Grande river from Texas.
The flood washed away people, houses and livestock, leaving cars perched on top of caved-in buildings and mud-splattered furniture and dead horses strewn about the streets.
As the rain stopped on Tuesday and receding flood waters left behind a slurry of mud and debris, rescue workers found the bodies of three adults in the rubble of wrecked homes.
Some 300 homes were destroyed in and around Piedras Negras, which has a population of 200,000 people.
Some 2,000 flood victims were taken to nearby shelters as rescue patrols, backed by the army, stretched 125 miles (200 km) downstream from the town along the Escondido River.
The floods came as a shock to locals in what is normally one of the driest parts of Mexico. It was the first time the usually dry Escondido River had broken its banks. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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