| Situation Update No. 5 Ref.no.: FF-20100205-24805-MEX
Situation Update No. 5
On 2010-02-08 at 04:25:20 [UTC]
Event: Flash Flood
Location: Mexico MultiStates States of Michoacan, Guanajuato and Mexico City
Number of Deads: 30 person(s)
Situation: The heavy rains that pounded Mexico late last week resulted in at least 32 deaths across the country, with the states of Michoacan, in the south, and the central states of Mexico and Guanajuato hit the hardest, officials said Sunday. Officials are working to assist thousands of people affected by flooding, mainly in Mexico state and different areas of the neighboring Federal District, although since Saturday the weather has improved in the central part of the country with clear skies and warmer temperatures, and with no chance of rain. The largest number of deaths occurred in the state of Michoacan, where 18 fatalities were reported, with 11 more people dying in Mexico state and three in the state of Guanajuato, state emergency management officials said. In Mexico state, 11 personas died on Friday in a mudslide on the Toluca-Temascaltepec federal highway due to the intense rains. The Government Secretariat declared an emergency in several cities in Michoacan, Mexico state and in four districts of the Mexican capital. The emergency decree allows authorities to use federal resources to attend to the basic food, clothing and health needs of the affected population. In the Federal District, some 1,240 homes were damaged or destroyed by flooding in the boroughs of Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero and Venustiano Carranza, and clean-up efforts are continuing, including the removal of rubble in the neighborhoods that were inundated in various parts of the capital. Authorities are also working to eliminate contaminated water in the area that might be a breeding ground for epidemics. Army troops are helping to restore normality in the area and in the Valley of Mexico, where the most affected spots are in the country’s capital. At least 700 families in the poor neighborhoods of Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state, were affected when the El Cerrito Rico dam overflowed. In Guanajuato state, about 7,000 people in 12 communities in the city of San Jose Iturbide, in the northeastern part of the state, were evacuated when a part of the outlet stream for the La Salitrera dam flooded. Other states affected to lesser degrees by the rains are Oaxaca, Puebla, Morelos, the eastern portion of San Luis Potosi, the southern part of Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala and Veracruz. |
