The toll from a rainstorm that hit the city of Reynosa on Monday night is two deaths and 57 flooded neighborhoods, authorities say.
The intense rains flooded thousands of homes across the Tamaulipas border city, and in some places floodwaters were over a meter and a half deep.
United States authorities had warned that the storm could affect cities in the Río Grande Valley. But Mexico’s National Meteorological Service had only forecast moderate to intense rains.
As the water began to rise, the army responded to rescue people from their homes. A total of 92 people were taken to temporary shelters set up in the municipal auditorium, the stadium and the Rodhe campus of the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas.
The rains also damaged Reynosa’s electrical grid, leaving 100,000 people without power for 12 hours.
Governor Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca said that municipal governments need to take measures to prevent similar flooding from happening again.
“When the hurricane season started, we were working with Civil Defense in the state, and they recommended that every municipal government should work on preventative measures, especially cleaning out drains,” he said. “Because when drains are full of trash, the water level rises, and it leads to flooding.”
Source: El Universal (sp), El Mañana (sp)
