Cyclone Grace brings heavy rain to Mexico, causing power outages, floods and landslides. Several people are killed.
Veracruz – Tropical storm “Grace” caused floods and landslides in Mexico. At least eight people were killed in the east of the Latin American country, as the government of the state of Veracruz on the Gulf Coast announced on Saturday.
A woman and five children were killed in a landslide in the village of Banderilla, said the governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García Jiménez. A man was killed in Poza Rica and another child was killed in the collapse of a house in Xalapa. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his condolences to the relatives. “You are not alone,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Grace” hit the Mexican Gulf Coast as a hurricane and then quickly lost its power overland. However, it caused heavy rain. Civil defense reported landslides and floods in several states. “We urge the population not to feel like they are in a false sense of security,” said Governor García. “Even when the storm is over, the emergency is not over yet.”
Trees were uprooted and streets flooded in nearly two dozen localities in Veracruz state. The strong wind also overturned numerous electricity pylons. The utility company CFE announced that over half a million people were temporarily cut off from the power supply. Several flights to Veracruz, Tampico, Reynosa, Culiacan and Huatulco were canceled because of the storm.
In Mexico City, the authorities raised the alert. Floods occurred in several parts of the city. The city administration called on the population of the metropolis to be careful.
“Grace” hit Mexico twice: As a tropical storm, it first passed over the Yucatán Peninsula, which is popular with holidaymakers on Thursday. There he caused property damage and extensive power outages, but people were not harmed. The tropical cyclone then picked up speed again over the Gulf of Mexico and hit the east coast of the Latin American country as a hurricane.
As “Grace” passed over central Mexico, the storm lost more and more force and was downgraded to a low pressure area. However, it could now pull out in the west to the Pacific and gain strength there, as the weather service announced. If it regains storm strength there, it would be named “Marty” according to the list of the US hurricane center. dpa
