Dozens Dead in Storm-Ravaged Mexico

Hurricane Manuel made landfall yesterday in northwestern Mexico while other parts of the country are trying to emerge from the death and damage caused by it and Tropical Storm Ingrid.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted that up to fifteen inches of rain are expected to fall in Sinaloa and wind gusts could reach as high as 100 miles per hour.  As a result of possible landslides and flash flooding, officials in that state closed schools and also evacuated the residents of the fishing village of Yameto.

Days of heavy rains and flooding by Ingrid and Manuel have led to the deaths of at least ninety-seven people in southwestern Mexico as well as the Yucatan peninsula.  The death toll increased Thursday night after rescue workers found the corpses of fifteen villagers in La Pintada, Guerrero who were buried by a massive mudslide.  The number of fatalities is expected to soon hit the triple digits since dozens of La Pintada residents are still missing. 

“It was like an explosion shook the mountains and in seconds the land moved and the houses looked like they were running down the mountainside,” said Amelia Saldaña Gregorio who survived the mudslide but lost four of her children along with her mother.

“I ran to see if I could save my sons and I couldn’t…Dear God, my children and mother are buried up there and I couldn’t do anything!” exclaimed the distraught Saldaña to Mexico’s El Universal.

Recovery efforts in La Pintada as well as other parts of Guerrero have been hindered by thunderstorms that keep falling over flood-hit areas.

The storms have cut off roads and electrical power to the resort town of Acapulco where supplies and basic foodstuffs are running very low.  Military aircraft have slowly moved out some of the tourists and residents while marines stood guard outside stores that were looted.

Areas of Mexico that have not been affected by Ingrid and Manuel might soon have to face a developing tropical storm:

According to Tropical Weather Expert Dan Kottlowski, "Atmospheric conditions will cause the disturbance to drift into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and become the next organized tropical system in the Atlantic basin Thursday into Friday."

The next tropical depression that forms in the Atlantic for 2013 would be number 11, and the next name on the list of tropical storms is Jerry.
 

Rain from this system is likely to drench part of northeastern Mexico and could bring a new wave of flooding to the region. 

The wild weather comes as Mexicans commemorated the twenty-eighth anniversary of a powerful earthquake that measured 8.1 on the Richter scale and caused major dame throughout Mexico City. 

The giant Mexican flag at Mexico City’s Zócalo plaza was lowered to half-staff yesterday in memory of the tens of thousands of people killed in the 1985 tremor.

Video Source– YouTube via euronews

Online Sources – Milenio.com; Accuweather.com; NBC News; El Universal; Reuters; BBC News