POZA RICA, Mexico — Fifteen minutes before water from a flooded stream swept into her home, Lilia Ramírez took off running with what little she could carry.
Authorities say some 100,000 homes across the region have been damaged by the torrential rains and flooding.
Ramírez said that at other times of heavy rains, the state oil company Pemex had drained nearby areas with oil to avoid it spreading.
Mexico’s Civil Protection agency said the heavy rains had killed 29 people in Veracruz state on the Gulf Coast as of Monday morning, and 21 people in Hidalgo state, north of Mexico City.
At least 13 were killed in Puebla, east of Mexico City.
POZA RICA, Mexico — Lilia Ramírez ran with what little she had on her fifteen minutes before water from a flooded stream swept into her house. Not only was her first floor flooded to the ceiling when she returned, but her walls were now streaked with the oil the water had carried.
The residue from the oil that built Poza Rica, a city near the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the issues facing some of the residents who fled the flooding that has killed 64 people in five states and left 65 missing. According to authorities, the region’s flooding and heavy rains have damaged about 100,000 homes.
Standing Monday in her ruined ground floor, where the pink walls had been vertically striped with black, Ramírez remarked, “Never before has it been tarred before like that.”.
Approximately 10,000 troops have been sent by Mexico, along with civilian rescue teams. Helicopters have transported the sick and injured as well as food and water to the 200 or so communities that were still cut off from the outside.
“There are enough resources available; this won’t be rushed. during her daily press briefing on Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum stated, “because we’re still in the emergency period.”.
The removal of mud and debris from some streets in Poza Rica, which is 170 miles (275 kilometers) northeast of Mexico City, was made more difficult by the thick oil deposits that were left on roofs, trees, and cars by the Friday current.
In October, Veracruz state received about 24 and a half inches (62 and a half centimeters) of rain. 6–9.
To prevent it from spreading, Ramírez said, the state oil company Pemex had drained the surrounding areas with oil during other periods of heavy rain.
According to Roberto Olvera, one of her neighbors, they were warned of danger by a siren from a nearby Pemex facility. “A lot of people from the neighborhood stayed behind and some perished,” he said, so it was a truly agonizing moment.
Pemex told the AP in a brief statement that it had not received any reports of an oil spill in the region as of yet.
Sheinbaum admitted that in some locations, access may not be established for days. According to her, “many flights are necessary to take sufficient food and water” to those locations.
That government systems had not given enough warning was refuted by the president. She stated, “It would have been challenging to have had much advance knowledge of this situation, (it’s) different from with hurricanes.”.
According to Mexico’s Civil Protection agency, as of Monday morning, the heavy rains had killed 21 people in Hidalgo state, north of Mexico City, and 29 people in Veracruz state, on the Gulf Coast. In Puebla, east of Mexico City, at least 13 people lost their lives. An earlier landslide in the central state of Querétaro claimed the life of a child.
Authorities have blamed Hurricane Pricilla and Tropical Storm Raymond, two tropical systems that developed off the western coast of Mexico and have since passed, for the deadly downpours.
