Inhabitants of the Cardenas community, in Tabasco state, Mexico, leave their house on 6 November 2009, due to the floods caused by the last days of heavy rain, which according to official reports, have stranded close to 21,000 people. EPA/Marco Polo Guzmán
Children stay inside a house in the Cardenas community, in Tabasco state, Mexico, on 06 November 2009, due to the floolds caused by the last days of heavy rain, which according to official reports, have stranded close to 21,000 people. EPA/Marco Polo Guzmán
A man looks at one of the rooms of his house located at the community of Cardenas, southern state of Tabasco, Mexico, 05 November 2009, flooded after the heavy rains that have hit the region since last weekend. Two men and a woman died due to the rains that have left 44.000 people affected and 90 rural communities flooded in the state of Tabasco. EPA/Marco Polo Guzmán
Inhabitants walk amid flooded waters in the community of Cardenas, Mexican State of Tabasco, Mexico, 05 November 2009. Heavy rains had provoked overflows of rivers since last week end with a death toll of two men and one woman. EPA/MARCO POLO GUZMAN
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico – November 7, 2009 - The number of victims of flooded homes in the rain-soaked Mexican Gulf coast states of Tabasco and Veracruz has risen to 206,000, officials said.
In Tabasco, the most affected area, the number of people whose homes have been flooded due to heavy rains has climbed from 79,000 to 200,000, Gov. Andres Granier said on Friday.
“There are more than 200,000 Tabasco residents who are in a desperate situation at the moment and, of course, I’m worried about this,” Granier said during a public event.
Official reports indicate that some 24,225 hectares (60,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed by the flooding in two municipalities of that southeastern state, where heavy rains two years ago left 80 percent of the state underwater and killed more than two-dozen people.
After rivers in the Tabasco towns of Cardenas and Huimanguillo burst their banks, the state government said the agricultural zone known as “El Plan Chontalpa” is practically “broken” and that rice, sugarcane, pineapple and lemon crops have been lost.
“The situation is serious. Crops have been lost and federal government funds are needed to cope with the crisis,” Granier said.
“Soon we’ll know the extent of the losses, and that won’t be until the water retreats,” the leader in Tabasco of the National Peasants’ Confederation, or CNC, Juan Jose Cadenas, said.
The Tabasco Agriculture Secretariat, meanwhile, said that at least 10,000 hectares (24,690 acres) of pastureland have been flooded and that ranchers have been forced to move more than 40,000 head of cattle to higher ground.
“If the cattle keeps getting thinner, we’ll lose a lot of (those animals),” said a source of that department.
In Cardenas and Huimanguillo, where more than 150 rural communities have been inundated and 12 damaged roads remain closed, ranchers reported the death of at least 50 head of cattle and an equal number of sheep.
In addition, some 145 schools in those two municipalities have been flooded and many others are being used as temporary shelters.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring state of Veracruz, authorities said Thursday that the homes of some 6,000 people in eight different towns have been flooded as a result of the torrential downpours.
Those municipalities have suffered flooding in both urban and rural areas due to both heavy rains and the swelling of rivers that flow into the state from Tabasco and Chiapas.
For its part, the National Defense Secretariat, or Sedena, said in a statement Friday that it has implemented an emergency plan to assist flood victims in Tabasco and Veracruz states, where the army thus far has evacuated 2,065 victims and set up nine shelters housing another 2,468 people.
Sedena has deployed 455 soldiers to the area, including a general, and said the military contingent in the Mexico City metropolitan area is on alert “to attend to other emergency situations that may arise due to the rains.”
The Mexican government said that, in addition to the current cold front, southeastern Mexico could be affected in the coming days by Tropical Storm Ida, which drenched Nicaragua on Friday but has begun re-strengthening as it moves north over the warm waters of the Caribbean.
In Tabasco, the most affected area, the number of people whose homes have been flooded due to heavy rains has climbed from 79,000 to 200,000, Gov. Andres Granier said on Friday.
“There are more than 200,000 Tabasco residents who are in a desperate situation at the moment and, of course, I’m worried about this,” Granier said during a public event.
Official reports indicate that some 24,225 hectares (60,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed by the flooding in two municipalities of that southeastern state, where heavy rains two years ago left 80 percent of the state underwater and killed more than two-dozen people.
After rivers in the Tabasco towns of Cardenas and Huimanguillo burst their banks, the state government said the agricultural zone known as “El Plan Chontalpa” is practically “broken” and that rice, sugarcane, pineapple and lemon crops have been lost.
“The situation is serious. Crops have been lost and federal government funds are needed to cope with the crisis,” Granier said.
“Soon we’ll know the extent of the losses, and that won’t be until the water retreats,” the leader in Tabasco of the National Peasants’ Confederation, or CNC, Juan Jose Cadenas, said.
The Tabasco Agriculture Secretariat, meanwhile, said that at least 10,000 hectares (24,690 acres) of pastureland have been flooded and that ranchers have been forced to move more than 40,000 head of cattle to higher ground.
“If the cattle keeps getting thinner, we’ll lose a lot of (those animals),” said a source of that department.
In Cardenas and Huimanguillo, where more than 150 rural communities have been inundated and 12 damaged roads remain closed, ranchers reported the death of at least 50 head of cattle and an equal number of sheep.
In addition, some 145 schools in those two municipalities have been flooded and many others are being used as temporary shelters.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring state of Veracruz, authorities said Thursday that the homes of some 6,000 people in eight different towns have been flooded as a result of the torrential downpours.
Those municipalities have suffered flooding in both urban and rural areas due to both heavy rains and the swelling of rivers that flow into the state from Tabasco and Chiapas.
For its part, the National Defense Secretariat, or Sedena, said in a statement Friday that it has implemented an emergency plan to assist flood victims in Tabasco and Veracruz states, where the army thus far has evacuated 2,065 victims and set up nine shelters housing another 2,468 people.
Sedena has deployed 455 soldiers to the area, including a general, and said the military contingent in the Mexico City metropolitan area is on alert “to attend to other emergency situations that may arise due to the rains.”
The Mexican government said that, in addition to the current cold front, southeastern Mexico could be affected in the coming days by Tropical Storm Ida, which drenched Nicaragua on Friday but has begun re-strengthening as it moves north over the warm waters of the Caribbean.
