Floods Ravage Mexico’s South

Mexican troops, doctors and rescue workers struggled Wednesday to reach scores of southern towns swamped by floods as heavy rains pelted some areas for the seventh straight day.

At least 33 people have been reported killed, and dozens more were missing in flooding across the country. The Pacific coastal zones of the southern state of Chiapas have been the most devastated.

President Ernesto Zedillo flew to Tapachula, 10 miles from the Guatemalan border, on Wednesday night to help coordinate relief efforts.

“I think the important thing is for all Mexicans and our brothers from Chiapas . . . to know that we’re here and that the government will be working at full capacity,” he told TV Azteca.

Tapachula, a city of 250,000 people, was a mess. In the last three days, it has received 18 inches of rain.

Other towns were even harder hit.

“If the river keeps rising, it’s going to reach the center of town,” Marco Antonio Santiso told Associated Press Television. He lives in Huixtla, a town 20 miles northwest of Tapachula on the Pacific coast.

Chiapas Gov. Roberto Albores Guillen said at least 25,000 people in more than 50 towns and villages have been driven from their homes by rising rivers and creeks.