Yesterday was the rainiest day on record in the city of León, Guanajuato, since the city started recording rainfall in 1961.
Wednesday’s rainfall totaled 88.8 millimeters, breaking the record set on June 12, 2018, when 66.6 millimeters of rain fell over a period of 24 hours.
But yesterday’s record-breaking downpour took place over just seven hours between midnight and 7:00am, and represents 14% of the rain that was forecast to fall in all of 2019, according to Everardo Lozano Enríquez, head of hydrology at the municipality’s water and sewer department.
The weather claimed one casualty — a man drowned while trapped in his car after it was swept off the road into a drainage canal.
Lozano said the rain will likely continue, but with less intensity.
He explained that it was caused by low-pressure system in central Mexico, which could also likely lead to electrical storms in León in the days ahead.
The rains also dumped half a million cubic meters of water into the El Palote dam near León, but Lozano said there is no risk of the dam overflowing because it is only at 64% capacity.
Flooding is often caused by drains plugged with garbage, which was the case in León’s Colonia Santo Domingo. But a “crew” went to work to repair them.
About half a dozen children cleared at least five drain grates using their bare hands and a broom to allow the water to drain from the flooded streets.
Low-pressure systems extending through western and central Mexico are delivering rain in several states. The National Meteorological Service forecasts intense storms in Michoacán, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Chiapas and México state today, with less intense rain in 12 others.
On Tuesday, heavy rains caused a landslide in the municipality of Acultzingo in central Veracruz, injuring six people and damaging at least 60 houses. Rains in Mexico City yesterday knocked over six trees and flooded streets in the boroughs of Venustiano Carranza and Gustavo A. Madero.
Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)
