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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2007 
Hurricane Lorenzo Kills 5 in Mexico
 Miguel Angel Hernandez - Associated Press
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| | A man clears his home of fallen trees after hurricane Lorenzo hit land in Nautla, Mexico, Friday Sept. 28, 2007. Lorenzo quickly weakened to a tropical storm and then a depression as it charged inland, drenching Veracruz state's lush mountains and filling rivers with roaring water. (AP/Saul Ramirez) |
Veracruz, Mexico - Hurricane Lorenzo's pounding rains caused mudslides and floods that killed at least five people, slashed roads and drove tens of thousands from their homes in eastern Mexico.
Rivers that had swollen 21 feet above usual levels began to recede on Saturday, but officials said it might take weeks for all flooding to subside.
Lorenzo hit Mexico's Gulf coast on Friday and quickly faded into a potent rainstorm as it moved over the lush, ravine-cut mountains of east-central Mexico, dumping more than 13 inches of rain in some areas in less than a day.
In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Karen faded into a tropical depression Saturday with winds of 35 mph. It was some 530 miles east of the Leeward Islands, and the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was likely to dissipate soon.
A new tropical storm, Melissa, also formed early Saturday in the eastern Atlantic, but posed no immediate threat to land.
In the Mexico's Puebla state, a hillside gave way in the village of Ixtaczoquitla, burying a 26-year-old woman and two girls, aged 3 and 5, who appeared to be her daughters, the state government reported.
A 9-year-old girl died in the village of Rancho Nuevo and a 19-year-old man was missing, washed away by a flooded river, the government reported. About a dozen roads were severed by landslides or flooding.
In neighboring Veracruz state, an 83-year-old man died after falling into a hole in drenched soil near his home, local police said.
Veracruz's chief civil defense official, Ranulfo Marquez, said Saturday that the Cazones River that cuts through the oil city of Poza Rica was only 13 feet above normal levels — down more than 6 1/2 feet from the night before. He said it could take weeks for all flooding to subside.
Marquez said hundreds of homes had been flooded, 2,000 roofs blown off and 30,000 people forced from their homes in his state. Thousands were also evacuated in Puebla state.
On the Net: The U.S. National Hurricane Center |
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