IL Postcard

Worst Flooding in Half a Century Swamps Southeast Mexico

Date: 11/05/2007

November 6, 2007
Villahermosa, Mexico

All eyes in Mexico are turned toward the southeast this week, riveted by images of destruction. Torrential rains last week left the low-lying Gulf state of Tabasco largely under water, with upward of a million people displaced by the worst flooding in over half a century. Rains and flooding also affected the neighboring state of Chiapas, leaving at least four dead there.

Shocking images of people struggling through chest-high flood waters and rescue teams with helicopters plucking children and the elderly from rooftops have filled television screens. Though floodwaters began receding this past weekend, as much as 80% of Tabasco’s capital, Villahermosa, still remained under nearly seven feet of water on Monday.

According to government authorities, about 20,000 people in Villahermosa refused to evacuate their homes and businesses. They fear looting, which plagued the city this past weekend. Looters used boats to access buildings cut off by high flood waters. The Tabasco governor, Andrés Granier, has limited access to Villahermosa only to officially registered residents, in an attempt to stem further theft.

Landslides are now a danger in outlying areas of the Tabasco state and in Chiapas. Landslides Monday in Chiapas buried dozens of homes in one small village and cut off eight other villages near the Tabasco border. In addition, Mexico’s Red Cross is braced for a possible outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases in the area—a common consequence of poor sanitation and lack of purified water during flooding.

Rescue centers have been set up for refugees in the neighboring states of Veracruz, west of Tabasco, and Campeche, to the east. Donations for relief are being gathered by many organizations on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, and the U.S. government will donate $300,000 for disaster relief.

Mexican consulates in both McAllen and Houston, Texas, are gathering funds and supplies for relief. The Houston consulate has set up a dedicated bank account at Wells Fargo Bank in Texas for donations. To contact the Houston consulate about making a donation, call 1-713-271-6800.

Best regards,

Suzan Haskins
Latin America Editorial Director