OAXACA- Governor Alejandro Murat told reporters today that a massive mudslide, triggered by Mexico’s recent hurricane Agatha, has killed at least 11 citizens, while police search for over 30 missing.
Murat told reporters yesterday that overflowing rivers were the main cause of the disappearances.
“There were fundamentally two reasons for the deaths. There were rivers that overflowed, and on the other hand, and the most serious part, were landslides,” Murat stated.
The affects of the hurricane can be seen mainly in the small towns along the mountain ranges and next to the coastline. Hurricane Agatha has affected over 40,000 people in the state, mainly those along the coasts and mountain ranges. Of those affected, many were buried under the debris caused by the disaster.
Agatha was recorded as the strongest tropical storm to ever make landfall during May, after it began a wave of disasters in small beach towns along the Oaxaca coast. However, the hurricane was a category two storm, and would slowly lose power the further it moved inland due to the mountains. The remaining parts of the hurricane were seen moving towards Veracruz.
The aftermath
Since the hurricane hit Oaxaca Murat says most of the communities struck have gotten their power back, but that many have been cut off from the state due to bridges and highways being blocked.
Villages and cities across the state have been completely flooded as well, including the town of Zipolite, a small village along the Oaxaca coast. Heavy winds pummeled the town for over six hours on Monday, Silvia Ranfagni told the media. Ranfagni runs the Casa Kalmar hotel, a village-themed resort near the beach.
“The sound of the wind was really loud, high-pitched. It started at 1 p.m. when the telephone coverage went out and it didn’t calm down until 7:30,” Ranfagni stated.
“A lot of trees were down, roads washed out. A lot of metal and thatched roofs were blown off.”
San Isidro del Palmar, a neighboring town, was brought down by the Tonameca river. For the period following the storm citizens of the town were forced out of their homes due to the flood and grabbed what they could, moving through neck-high water levels.
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