3 Die in Tijuana as Landslides Damage Homes
Two sisters and a boy died Tuesday when their homes were damaged in separate landslides in an impoverished area of Tijuana where people have built shanties in steep ravines.
Jose Antonio Aguirre Andrade, 5, was sleeping in his room when a rain-soaked hillside gave way and buried part of his home, said Humberto Garcia Gomez, director of Tijuana’s civil protection department.
Nearby a few hours later, Marta Angelica Tapia, 8, and Maria Del Carmen Tapia, 13, were killed in another landslide. The sisters were home because schools were closed due to the storms.
About 140 homes have been damaged or destroyed in landslides or floods during the last two to three weeks, said Garcia Gomez. Most were in poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city.
City officials have evacuated 2,500 people in areas of potential danger.
Rain was also a factor in the death of a 28-year-old woman who drowned while trying to drive across a flood-swollen creek, said Garcia Gomez.
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