Flooding in Mexico Kills at Least 218

With dozens of people believed buried alive in mudslides, rescue workers struggled Thursday to reach remote towns in southern and central Mexico, where flooding brought on by more than a week of rain has killed at least 218 people.

Official death tolls soared throughout the day as rescue workers fought through mudslides for buried victims using everything from bulldozers to buckets to bare hands.

The worst conditions were in the state of Puebla, east of Mexico City, where dozens of people were entombed by deep mudslides. Emergency rescue workers struggled Thursday to reach the small mountain town of Mixun, about 105 miles northeast of Mexico City, where at least 40 people were buried under a mudslide Wednesday.

State spokesman Jaime Molina said late Thursday that at least four people had died there--including two teachers--and 17 primary school students were missing.

“We need help urgently since we, with our hands, can’t do anything. We need equipment to get out the people trapped under the mud,” Luis Francisco Diaz, an official for the Pantepec municipality, which includes Mixun, told the government news agency Notimex.

“As of last night, you could hear the screams,” Leticia Arroyo, a teacher at the school, told Reuters by telephone Thursday morning. “They’re 10 meters [33 feet] under ground. So far we haven’t received any help,” she said.

Late Thursday, Puebla officials announced 166 people had died there, most in mudslides in remote mountain towns. Molina said at least 125 people were missing.

Mudslides killed 22 in Ciconcuautla, 22 more in Camocuautla, and at least 48 in Teziutlan, a mountain city of about 180,000 people 110 miles east of Mexico City.

President Ernesto Zedillo, who flew home Thursday from Canada, ordered the military to do whatever it could to assist flood victims and set up shelters.

Flooding sent rivers roaring over their banks across the southern and central half of Mexico. More than 157,000 people have been forced from their homes.

Isidora Medina, a 38-year-old homemaker, said one mudslide carried away several homes Tuesday evening in Teziutlan.

“We heard a very loud roar. Then the earth started to move, and mud started to fall down the hill,” she said at a church where gravediggers prepared to bury seven victims.

Townspeople said 30 to 40 people could still be buried in the mud. Hundreds of soldiers reached the town late Thursday, relieving dozens of weary volunteers who clawed at the mud with their hands and buckets to try to reach survivors.

Some parts of southeastern Mexico had received 2 1/2 feet of rainfall in two days--a total greater than the average annual rainfall for the Mexico City area, Guillermo Guerrero, director of the National Water Commission, told the TV network Televisa on Thursday.

In Villahermosa, the Tabasco state capital 410 miles southeast of Mexico City, hundreds of people sought safety on their rooftops Thursday, many for a second straight day. Some families were rescued by soldiers in launches, while others built makeshift rafts.