At least 30 towns remain cut off from communication due to landslides and rising rivers after the passage of ‘John’ in Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico, where there are three dead from the cyclone, which made landfall on Monday in the neighboring state of Guerrero as a category 3 hurricane and is now moving as a remnant low pressure.
The victims are Herlindo García García, from San José Peñasco, where he died after being swept away by a river, and Teresa López, who died when her house was buried by a landslide in Amoltepec, in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca.
Meanwhile, the governor of Oaxaca, Salomón Jara, reported on Thursday the discovery of the body of a five-year-old child, in addition to these two victims.
These deaths are added to the 13 confirmed in Guerrero, so in total the phenomenon has left 16 people dead.
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People protect their belongings due to the overflow of the Verde River, caused by the passage of hurricane ‘John’, this Friday in the municipality of Santiago Jamiltepec (Mexico). EFE/Jesús Méndez
Inhabitants of Coyuche and Emiliano Zapata, belonging to the municipality of Jamiltepec, were cut off by roadblocks and flooding.
Some of its inhabitants have to walk between the hills to get supplies or to keep their belongings safe from the overflow of the Verde River.
Juan Antonio Granados, a resident of Coyuche, is one of those affected, as he and his family had to walk up to three kilometers to be safe.
“We are going to the other town that is cut off in the middle of two lagoons, Emilano Zapata. “As the traffic is, we went around the flood, the road, we went around it here,” he told EFE.
At the entrance to Coyuche, a municipality with an Afro-Mexican population located 30 kilometers from federal highway 200, the road has been blocked since Monday.
“The pass is closed, two trees fell, it is flooded, there is no way a truck can get through there,” Granados added.
In San Antonio Tututepec, the Verde River also overflowed and the water swept away farm animals and flooded houses.
Cristina García was left without her chickens, which provide food for her and her three children, due to the rising river.
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Aerial photograph of the overflowing Verde River after the passage of hurricane ‘John’, this Friday in the municipality of Santiago Jamiltepec
“Here is a chicken coop, where my animals were, a lot of mud, because unfortunately all my little animals were also swept away (by the hurricane), I didn’t have time at night in the early morning when the water came in,” she told EFE.
In this community of 300 people, more than half of its inhabitants placed their belongings on the esplanade of the municipal agency while the storm passes.
“Well, with the help of the citizens we took everything out of the house in case the river rose,” explained Brenda Gomez, a resident of San Antonio.
On the Oaxaca coast, at least 50 municipalities remain on alert due to the intense rains that continue.
Federal Highway 200 on the Pinotepa Nacional – Puerto Escondido stretch is already open to traffic, but there are almost impassable stretches.
‘John’ is now moving as a remnant low pressure over Michoacán after re-emerging on Wednesday from its remnants after having made landfall on Monday as a category 3 in Guerrero.
Source: lopezdoriga
