The death toll continues to rise in southern Mexico after more than a week ofheavy rainfall has caused numerous mudslides across the region.The latest mudslide occurred Thursday morning in the town of Villa HidalgoYalaag in the state of Oaxaca. This landslide killed two people when theirhouse collapsed in this mudslide.
This landslide came just two days after a huge mudslide in Santa Maria deTiahitoltepec prompted fears that hundreds of lives were lost. The death tollfrom that mudslide has been lowered to 11.
Another landslide Tuesday occurred at Amatan in the southern state of Chiapas.
Amatan lies about 40 miles south-southeast of Villahermosa in the neighboringstate of Tabasco.
In the lead-up to the landslide, rainfall at Villahermosa was about 8 incheswithin 24 hours, and the hills in and about Amatan may have had much more.
Thus, rain-soaked steep hillsides likely broke loose due to the excessiverainfall.
The death toll from recent flooding and mudslides has now risen to 37 acrosssouthern Mexico. More than 100,000 families have been displaced from theflooding and mudslides and some towns remain under several feet of water.
Heavy rainfall has occurred over the past several weeks due to TropicalRainstorms Karl and Matthew. The remnant moisture from these storms has fueledcontinued heavy rainfall through much of the past week. Drier weather finallyarrived across southern Mexico on Friday and is expected to continue over muchof the coming week as high pressure builds in from the north suppressing anymoisture into Central America.
