Twin Storms Leave 42 Dead, 1.2 Million Battered

Tropical storm INGRID weakens having affected 1.2 million people

INGRID weakened to a tropical depression, dissipating over the mountains of Eastern Mexico, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Mexican government declared states of emergency in 23 towns in eastern Tamaulipas state after INGRID left the area devastated.

Mexico’s Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong described the catastrophic floods as a “historic” natural disaster after twin storms pummeled southern Mexico on Monday.

Historic flooding and landslides triggered by twin storms INGRID and MANUEL left at least 42 people dead, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands and stranding at least 40,000 tourists.

Tropical Storm MANUEL made landfall on Sunday near the port of Manzanillo, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, causing devastation in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, where raging floodwaters and massive landslides claimed at least 21 lives.

The storms have affected an estimated 1.2 million people in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacan and Oaxaca, the national emergency services said.

“Landslides buried homes and a bus in the eastern state of Veracruz, while thousands were evacuated from flooded areas, some by helicopter, and taken to shelters.”

The twin storms have destroyed or damaged about 30,000 homes throughout the affected regions in southern Mexico, FIRE-EARTH estimates.

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