MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Heavy rains in Mexico have left at least 27 people dead and more missing, authorities said on Friday, as the downpours caused several landslides, power outages in some municipalities and caused rivers to overflow.
Civil protection authorities in the state of Hidalgo reported 16 deaths and said at least 1,000 homes and hundreds of schools had been affected.
Puebla state Governor Alejandro Armenta said at least nine people had died due to incidents such as landslides and another five had been reported missing. Authorities reported two more deaths in the state of Veracruz.
“We are working to support the population, open roads and restore electrical services,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a post on X. She shared photos of first responders carrying supplies while walking knee-deep in flooded streets.
A Navy video showed an officer searching for stranded people as he walked down a street in neck-deep water in Poza Rica, where heavy rains and the swollen Cazones River submerged much of the city of Veracruz.
The Ministry of Defense said it had deployed more than 5,400 people to help monitor, evacuate and clean up affected areas.
Meanwhile, storms Raymond and Priscilla have been bringing rain to the Baja California peninsula and the country’s western Pacific coast.
(Reporting by Lizbeth DÃaz; writing by Sarah Morland; editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Raju Gopalakrishnan)