Rains leave floods and mudslides

Heavy rains and flooding caused by Cold Front Number Two have killed at least eleven people in southern Mexico, with officials reporting the deaths occurred primarily in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco. As the weather system dissipated over the southwest Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, water levels in major rivers began to recede, reducing flood risks in a dozen heavily affected municipalities within Veracruz. Approximately sixty municipalities in the state reported some form of damage, though the worst devastation was concentrated in the south. Strong winds and precipitation disrupted power for roughly 284,000 users of the Federal Electricity Commission, although service had been restored to 98 percent of customers by early Tuesday morning. The deadliest impacts were recorded during the late night hours of Sunday and the early morning of Monday. In the municipality of Coatzacoalcos, four women from a single family died after a retaining wall collapsed onto their home in the Ejidal neighborhood of Villa Allende around 2:00 a.m. Authorities confirmed that two of the victims were minors. In nearby Las Choapas, six members of another family perished from carbon monoxide poisoning. They had left a gasoline generator running inside their residence after losing electrical power due to the storm. A subsequent death was reported in Las Choapas when a driver was swept away by a current, bringing the direct mortality toll attributed to the weather system in Veracruz to five according to local reports, while state Governor Rocio Nahle Garcia cited a total of ten fatalities in her initial assessment. There is a discrepancy between official tallies regarding the number of deaths. The National Coordination of Civil Protection reported four fatalities in its balance sheet, confirming the collapse in Coatzacoalcos but omitting the six deaths in Las Choapas from that specific count. Meanwhile, the governor’s office maintained the higher figure. To coordinate relief efforts, the federal agency established a command post in Minatitlan, led by agency head Laura Vasquez Alzua alongside the governor. Federal forces, including the Mexican Army, the Navy, and state police, activated assistance plans to evacuate residents from low-lying areas. Flooding peaked in the municipalities of Uxpanapa, Moloacan, Nanchital, Coatzacoalcos, Agua Dulce, Ixhuatlan del Sureste, Catemaco, Tatahuicapan de Juarez, Soteapan, Acayucan, Mecayapan, and Santiago Tuxtla. In Nanchital, 317 families were moved to shelters, and two communities lost temporary land access. In Coatzacoalcos, rescue teams worked in 15 neighborhoods where water depths ranged from 15 to 20 centimeters. Eleven colonies were affected in Agua Dulce, seven localities in Ixhuatlan del Sureste, and seven zones in Acayucan suffered from flooding and roof detachment. Although the Rio Coatzacoalcos and Rio Aguadulcito returned to their normal courses in many areas, monitoring shifted focus to the Rio Uxpanapa near Las Choapas, which showed a gradual rise in water levels. Meteorological data indicated that while accumulated rainfall in southern Veracruz did not exceed historical October maximums, it registered among the highest values for the month since 1995. In Tierra Morada, Las Choapas, rain totaled 220 millimeters per square meter, the second-highest October record in decades. Other stations in La Cangrejera and Agua Dulce recorded accumulations of 265.0, 260.5, and 222.0 millimeters respectively, marking the third-highest readings for October in their respective records. Damage extended beyond Veracruz into neighboring states. In Oaxaca, landslides and fallen trees damaged roads and interrupted electricity in the Mazateca and Papaloapan Basin regions. A landslide blocked the road connecting Santa Cruz Tepetotutla at kilometer 11, dragging a vehicle carrying teachers, though no injuries were reported. The state government warned of continued heavy rains and very strong winds in the Tehuantepec Isthmus. In Tabasco, the State Institute of Civil Protection issued an orange alert due to high levels in the Usumacinta and Pichucalco rivers, fed by runoff from Chiapas and Guatemala. Governor Javier May Rodriguez announced that approximately 34 families in the coastal town of Paraiso would need to be relocated because their homes were destroyed by sea intrusion and wind. This will be the second community displaced by climate conditions in the region, following El Bosque in Centla. Classes were suspended again in eight municipalities in southern Veracruz due to ongoing alerts. Infrastructure work focused on reopening roads and deploying pumping equipment to remove standing water. The Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation coordinated these efforts, while the National Water Commission deployed teams to manage drainage. Governor Nahle urged residents living in risk zones to move to temporary shelters given the persistence of the rains. She stated that ensuring public safety was the priority, with reconstruction and further aid to be addressed once the weather system fully passed. The situation remained fluid as authorities monitored river levels and assessed structural damage across the affected regions.