The Oaxacan state Civil Protection Coordination has asked the authorities of four Isthmus municipalities located near the Tehuantepec River to take precautions due to the release of water from the “Benito Juárez” dam in Jalapa del Marqués.
According to authorities, the dam’s capacity has increased by 105 percent in recent hours, forcing the Tehuantepec River to rise. They warned that the rains will continue.
The alert issued by the state Civil Protection Coordination was addressed to the authorities of the municipalities of Tehuantepec, San Blas Atempa, San Pedro Huilotepec, and San Mateo del Mar, where one of their communities, Colonia Cuauhtémoc, is experiencing constant flooding from ground swells.
Civil Protection “calls on the municipalities of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region to activate their citizen response protocols in the event of any increase in the Tehuantepec River level in the coming hours,” the agency stated.
“According to the report from the National Water Commission (Conagua), the rains expected this week could increase the storage level of the Benito Juárez Dam in Jalapa del Marqués, which is currently at 105 percent of its capacity.”
This situation, the agency stated, “would generate a gradual increase in the flow of the aforementioned tributary, even though water discharges have been carried out under controlled conditions,” so the authorities of these municipalities and the population are advised to remain vigilant.
As rarely seen before, the Tehuantepec River began showing an increase in its flow this morning, resulting from the controlled release of the dam, which has a storage capacity of 700 million cubic meters.
For the eight thousand users of irrigation district 019, the filling of the dam is good news because it guarantees irrigation for various crops on 30,000 hectares from November 2025 to May 2026.
Source: eluniversal
