Residents cross a flooded street in Villahermosa on Thursday. Thousands of homes were flooded after several rivers burst their banks in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco and heavy rains left 70 per cent of the swampy region under water. - Reuters VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (Reuters):
Thousands of people fled a Mexican city devastated by floods after rising waters burst through sandbag barriers yesterday in a disaster that left most of the tropical state of Tabasco under water.
At least 500,000 people were made homeless and one person was killed in the worst flooding the swampy state has seen in more than 50 years.
The banks of the Grijalva River, which winds through state capital Villahermosa, burst after days of heavy rains.
Sandbags failed to hold back a murky, brown deluge pouring into a main street in Villahermosa, home to around half a million people.
"When will this finish?" said resident Maria de la Luz Robles. "This is chaotic and depressing."
The army evacuated most of the city centre on Thursday night after a levee broke. Interior Minister Francisco Ramirez acknowledged the disaster took the Government by surprise.
overwhelmed
"The event overwhelmed everyone and that's why we all have to work intensely," he said. The city centre was under between 6 1/2 feet (2 metres) and 19 feet (6 metres) of water.
Rescue workers broke windows of homes to reach stranded residents. The city lacked food, water and medicine as thousands fled in military helicopters or private trucks.
"Ten thousand have left already and more are leaving," said Ramon Fernandez Gorostiola, from a transportation company that gave free rides to people to get out. "It is a critical situation," he said.
Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier said more than one million people, about half of the state's population, were affected by the flooding. Scores called local radio programmes pleading to be rescued. Many shelters were evacuated after floodwaters overtook them.
Navy helicopters rescued scores of people yesterday morning from the village of El Aguacate. They had gathered on a tiny plot of high land, as flood waters rose around them.
