Thousands left homeless after torrential rains in southern Mexico

The flooding has affected all four of Mexico’s southernmost states; Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz and Oaxaca. Many people were ignoring government’s pleas to evacuate the region, as they are accustomed to the annual floods every year.

Authorities yesterday began extracting 2,000 cubic metres of water every second from four dams whose reservoirs were bursting, causing several rivers to overflow.

Despite the severe floods, thousands resorted to sleeping on their roofs instead of moving to a shelter.

In the state of Tabasco. The homes of over 124,000 people have been badly flooded and thousands of hectares of crops have been lost. However, only 2,000 people of the state are in shelters.

Tabasco Governor Andres Granier said "They are refusing to leave their homes and they don't want to go to shelters because they have a culture of living with water," he said during a meeting with President Felipe Calderon, who flew over the affected areas Tuesday and walked through some flooded towns.

Granier warned Calderon that the situation could exceed the grave situation of 2007, where one million homes were submerged and 33 people killed, because record rainfall is expected.

"What worries me is that the worst is yet to come for Tabasco," Granier said. "The state and these people cannot keep suffering these problems each year, or live in permanent uncertainty."

In recent years, government dug relief ditches and took other flood-control measures to ease the annual flooding in southern Mexico.

In the state of Veracruz, 200,000 people were forced out of their home, although some have started to return in recent weeks.

A woman living in a town in Veracruz said "They evacuated us when the water was up to our waists, but the water had already broken all the doors of our house."

She said at least 20 men stayed behind in her neighborhood to try to salvage possessions.