Heavy rain in Mexico sets off floods and landslides, killing at least 44

POZA RICA, Mexico — Some people in the low-lying working-class neighborhoods of Poza Rica heard the wall of water before they saw it.

The loudest sound was from the cars crashing together as they were swept along by the water that had escaped from the banks of the Cazones River and flooded the streets with more than 12 feet of water at dawn Friday.

By Saturday, much of the water had flowed away. What was left was pure destruction and the surreal scenes created when nature collides with the man-made: cars hanging from treetops, a dead horse wedged inside the cabin of a pickup.

The death toll from Mexico’s torrential rains increased to 44 on Sunday as the fallout mounted from flooding and landslides across the country, prompting President Claudia Sheinbaum to convene governors from hard-hit states to direct an emergency response plan.

Mexico’s National Coordination of Civil Protection reported that as of Sunday, the heavy rains had killed 18 people in Veracruz state on the gulf coast and 16 people in Hidalgo state, north of Mexico City. At least nine people were killed in Puebla, east of Mexico City. Earlier, in the central state of Querétaro, a child was killed in a landslide.

In Veracruz and Puebla, hundreds of army personnel, police officers and firefighters conducted rescue operations and set up temporary shelters where stranded residents could find food and medical attention. Thousands of residents across the country were still struggling with a lack of running water and electricity.

That toll could still rise as rescue workers continued to dig through sodden villages clogged with mud and debris Sunday.

In Veracruz state, more than 21 inches of rain fell from Monday through Thursday.

In Poza Rica, an oil town 170 miles northeast of Mexico City, there was little warning before the water arrived. Some neighbors said they sensed danger a couple of hours earlier and grabbed a few belongings before abandoning their homes.

Shadack Azuara, 27, came in search of his uncle around 3 a.m. Friday, but getting no answer when he knocked, he figured he had already fled with others, so he went home to get himself ready.

On Saturday, still having heard nothing of his uncle — a retiree from oil services work who collected newspapers and bottles for recycling — Azuara returned to find his uncle shirtless and facedown in the murky water surrounding his bed, apparently drowned. He spent hours calling authorities trying to get someone to pick up the body.

“We thought he had gone, that he had evacuated with all of those who left,” Azuara said.

As night fell Saturday in Poza Rica, heavy equipment rumbled through dark muddy streets. There was no electricity and little presence from the national guard or army, but people did what they could to begin cleaning out their homes and businesses.

“We will not leave anyone helpless,” Sheinbaum wrote on social media. On Sunday, surveying authorities’ aid distribution in the hard-hit Huauchinango municipality in Puebla, Sheinbaum said that Sunday’s improved weather offered a chance to reach isolated communities. .

Across the country, over 320,000 users were affected by power outages caused by the storms, authorities said. Authorities have attributed the deadly downpours to Tropical Storm Priscilla, formerly a hurricane, and Tropical Storm Raymond, both off the western coast of Mexico.

Márquez writes for the Associated Press.