2007/11/02 10:57:02 Þ.Ù
Most of Mexico's southern state of Tabasco was underwater Thursday, as hundreds of thousands of people waited for rescuers to pull them out of their homes in the worst floods ever in the region.
The floods that began last week now cover 80 percent of Tabasco, a state about the size of Belgium, affecting about one million people and killing at least one person, officials said.
"Of the 2.1 million Tabasquenos, more than half are suffering from this serious problem that has not been experienced in the history of Tabasco," Governor Andres Granier told reporters.
About 30,000 people were placed in 256 state shelters while 300,000 remain trapped in flooded homes, waiting for military helicopters and boats to rescue them, the state government said in a statement.
More than 850 towns have been flooded in the Gulf of Mexico state.
"The amount of water is shocking," said the governor of the 29,000 square kilometer (11,000 square mile) state.
"100 percent of crops are lost."
About 400 doctors and health workers have been deployed to more than 300 towns to detect any outbreak of infections, according to the state's civil protection agency.
State officials warned that rivers continued to rise one week after the first flooding started.
The floods began last week when a cold front brought heavy rain that caused rivers to break their banks.
Soldiers and state authorities had placed more than 700,000 sand bags along the rivers to prevent flooding, but the water rose above the barriers.
The floods worsened over the past three days as authorities drained water from two dams in the neighboring state of Chiapas to prevent them from exceeding their capacity.
The drainage caused three Tabasco rivers to burst their banks.
The water rose again Thursday in the state capital of Villahermosa, which was flooded Wednesday after the Grijalva river burst its banks.
But hundreds of Villahermosa residents refused to leave their flooded homes amid reports of looting in the city of 750,000 people.
The federal electricity commission also said it was unclear when it would be able to close the spigots in the Penitas dam in Chiapas.
The federal government and Red Cross set up donation centers to collect drinking water, canned food and blankets for Tabasco residents.
SM
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=246351
The floods that began last week now cover 80 percent of Tabasco, a state about the size of Belgium, affecting about one million people and killing at least one person, officials said.
"Of the 2.1 million Tabasquenos, more than half are suffering from this serious problem that has not been experienced in the history of Tabasco," Governor Andres Granier told reporters.
About 30,000 people were placed in 256 state shelters while 300,000 remain trapped in flooded homes, waiting for military helicopters and boats to rescue them, the state government said in a statement.
More than 850 towns have been flooded in the Gulf of Mexico state.
"The amount of water is shocking," said the governor of the 29,000 square kilometer (11,000 square mile) state.
"100 percent of crops are lost."
About 400 doctors and health workers have been deployed to more than 300 towns to detect any outbreak of infections, according to the state's civil protection agency.
State officials warned that rivers continued to rise one week after the first flooding started.
The floods began last week when a cold front brought heavy rain that caused rivers to break their banks.
Soldiers and state authorities had placed more than 700,000 sand bags along the rivers to prevent flooding, but the water rose above the barriers.
The floods worsened over the past three days as authorities drained water from two dams in the neighboring state of Chiapas to prevent them from exceeding their capacity.
The drainage caused three Tabasco rivers to burst their banks.
The water rose again Thursday in the state capital of Villahermosa, which was flooded Wednesday after the Grijalva river burst its banks.
But hundreds of Villahermosa residents refused to leave their flooded homes amid reports of looting in the city of 750,000 people.
The federal electricity commission also said it was unclear when it would be able to close the spigots in the Penitas dam in Chiapas.
The federal government and Red Cross set up donation centers to collect drinking water, canned food and blankets for Tabasco residents.
SM
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=246351
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