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| In recent days flooding in Mexico has displaced thousands of residents. [AFP PHOTO] |
Mexico's state governor, Pena Nieto, is describing the community of Cuautitlan as a "lagoon". 6000 residents of this northern suburb of Mexico City have been living in flooded houses since last weekend.
The flooding started early Saturday morning after heavy rains caused a nearby river to overflow its banks, forcing 1200 families to seek shelter on higher ground. Many of the homes experienced water levels to their rooflines with the highest flooding in some locations reaching five metres.
While some minor flooding does occur in Cuautitlan during the summer rainy season, a natural disaster of this magnitude has never occurred here before. Residents have long been complaining that the inadequate and overwhelmed drainage system for the city was partly to blame for the damage to their community.
With dams closed to stop water flowing to the Cuautitlan River, waters have begun to slowly recede, but not as fast as they could. On Tuesday more rain fell across the region. only delaying the clean-up and recovery efforts. Mexican soldiers have been deployed to help the residents to safety and salvage personal belongings.
Floodwater has also covered about 110 hectares of agricultural land around the community.
To the northeast of Cuautitlan, along the Mexican coast, just south of Texas, another potential flooding event is looming. Tropical storm Nate is currently churning in the Bay of Campeche. The forecast trend for Nate is to slowly intensify over the following days and make a turn to the northwest, possibly making landfall in the state of Tamaulipas early next week.
