Heavy rainfall in Mexico has left at least 27 people dead and more missing, authorities said on Friday, as downpours triggered several landslides, cut off power in some municipalities and caused rivers to burst their banks.
Civil protection authorities in Hidalgo state reported 16 deaths and said at least 1,000 homes and hundreds of schools had been affected.
Puebla state Governor Alejandro Armenta said at least nine people had died due to incidents such as landslides and another five had been reported missing. Authorities reported two more deaths in Veracruz state.
“We are working to support the population, open roads and restore electrical services,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a post on X. She shared photos of emergency responders carrying supplies as they waded knee-deep in flooded streets.
A video from the Navy showed an officer searching for stranded people as he advanced down a street neck-deep in water in Poza Rica, where heavy rains and the flooding of the Cazones river brought much of Veracruz town under water.
The ministry of defense said it had deployed over 5,400 personnel to help monitor, evacuate and clean up affected areas.
Meanwhile, storms Raymond and Priscilla have been dumping rains on the Baja California peninsula and the country’s western Pacific seaboard.
One of the hardest hit areas was the central state of Hidalgo, where 16 deaths have been reported, according to state Interior Secretary Guillermo Olivares Reyna.
At least 1,000 homes, 59 hospitals and clinics, and 308 schools have suffered damage in the state because of landslides and rivers topping their banks. Some 17 of the states 84 municipalities were without electricity, he said.
In neighboring Puebla state, nine people died and 13 were missing, according to Gov. Alejandro Armenta. He requested help from the federal government to rescue 15 people, including some children, who were stranded on rooftops by floodwaters.
He estimated some 80,000 people were affected by the heavy rains and said a gas pipeline was ruptured by a landslide.
In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, two people died, including a police officer, Gov. Rocío Nahle said. Some 5.000 homes were damaged and the Navy evacuated nearly 900 people to shelters.
The city of Poza Rica was one of the hardest hit by river flooding. Authorities cut electricity as a precaution.
Earlier, authorities in the central state of Queretaro confirmed that the child had died after being caught in a landslide.
The heavy rainfall also caused power outages affecting more than 320,000 users and damage to almost 1,000 kilometers of roads in six states, authorities said.