A bus battles floodwaters in Sonora.Tropical Storm Sergio brought heavy rains to northern Mexico yesterday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and closing schools in four states.
The system, which dissipated into a remnant low after crossing the Baja California peninsula, affected Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
In Sonora, rain caused flooding in the municipalities of Hermosillo and Guaymas, where almost 400 people had to leave their homes and use temporary shelters.
Winds of up to 70 kilometers per hour uprooted more than 40 trees and brought down at least 45 utility poles in the port city of Guaymas.
Some houses and businesses were also damaged as was the retaining wall on the city’s waterfront promenade.
However, no fatalities or injuries were reported across Sonora.
Classes were canceled in all schools in the state and for three hours the public transportation system in the state capital Hermosillo was shut down. Crops in some agricultural regions of the state were severely damaged.
More than 1,000 schools were closed in Chihuahua and authorities suspended classes in eight of 18 municipalities in Sinaloa.
Baja California Sur Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said via Twitter that wind and rain damaged some roads in the state as well as schools in Loreto.
However, no one was injured and almost 600 people in shelters returned home after the storm passed, he said.
Schools in the north of Baja California Sur will reopen Monday.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) said that remnants of the system will cause more storms today in Sonora and Chihuahua and wind gusts of up to 50 kilometers per hour in the northwest of the country.
Sergio was a hurricane last week and heading away from the coast before it made a U-turn, making landfall in Baja California early Friday.
Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)
