Some 4,000 people were evacuated in the Rios area

Floods and landslides affect Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas

photo_camera AP/FELIX MARQUEZ - Residents use boats to navigate the flooded streets of Villahermosa, Mexico, on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. Flooding has affected thousands of people in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco

The floods caused by heavy rains in recent days in south-eastern Mexico have left severe flooding and caused landslides in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, for which the authorities have put several municipalities in the two entities on alert and evacuated.

In Tabasco, some 4,000 people were evacuated in the Rios area, where three rivers overflowed in response to the increase in Mexico's largest tributary, the Usumacinta.

On Monday, authorities declared a "maximum alert" after the Usumacinta River overflowed, exceeding the historic levels reached in 2008 and which, they said, has "a tendency to continue increasing" its volume of water.

The flooding emergency led authorities to safeguard the lives of the inhabitants of Macuspana municipalities where the Puxcatán and Tulijá rivers have also exceeded their critical scale.

The Interior Ministry, through the National Coordination of Civil Protection (CNPC), issued two declarations of emergency for the state of Tabasco, due to the river floods that occurred on Nov. 6 and 10 in six of the state's municipalities.
 

Servicios de emergenia, inundaciones México
Chiapas

The intense rains caused by the 13th Cold Front left severe effects in the various municipalities of the state of Chiapas, including Tecpatán, Mezcalapa, Simojovel, La Trinitaria, Chilón, Palenque, Salto de Agua, Tumbalá, Larráinzar, Chanal, Oxchuc, Chamula, Maravilla Tenejapa, Marqués de Comillas and Benemérito de las Américas.

The authorities indicated that on Sunday night and early Monday morning a preventative evacuation was carried out in the communities of Guadalupe Paxilhá, Paxilhá Antioquía, Campo Viejo, Xanil, Agua Azul Chico, Pante Majas and Masanilja, in the municipality of Chilón, this being due to a plug due to an unstable slide on the Guadalupe Paxilhá river, at the height of the community Paxilhá Liquilwitz.

Against this background, two temporary shelters were activated and humanitarian aid was provided to some 500 people.

Meanwhile, in Maravilla Tenejapa, an alert was activated due to the overflowing of the Lacantún River, and in that municipality 270 families living near the banks of the Amatitlán, Nuevo Rodulfo, San Felipe Jataté and San Vicente rivers were evacuated.

Meanwhile, in Tumbalá, there were 16 interruptions in road sections, four landslides and 11 slides, as well as the overflowing of a stream in the Yevalchén community.
 

Inundaciones méxico
Next hours

Meanwhile, the National Meteorological Service (SMN) predicted heavy rains for the next few hours in the states of Chiapas and Veracruz and the Yucatan peninsula on Monday

In a statement, the SMN said that during this night and early Tuesday morning, the Tropical Wave number 44 will move through the southeast of Mexican territory, and in interaction with a low pressure channel extended over the western Gulf of Mexico, will cause occasional heavy rains (25 to 50 millimeters) in Chiapas and southern Veracruz. In addition to showers (5.1 to 25 mm) in Campeche, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Yucatan.

He said that the entry of humidity from the Pacific Ocean will cause showers in Colima, Jalisco and Michoacán, while no rain is expected for the rest of the country.

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