Mexico: Hidalgo asks to evacuate areas near the Tula river due to flood risk

The governor of the central state Mexican from Hidalgo, Omar Fayad, called on Wednesday the inhabitants of the areas near the Tula River to evacuate their homes immediately due to an alert for a surplus of water after the vent of a dam in the neighboring State of Mexico.

The alert comes a day after it was announced that a total of 14 people died in the city of Tula after Monday evening flooded a hospital of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) after the heavy rains in the region that caused the river to overflow.

The state president said that it is contemplated that this Wednesday afternoon “A surplus of water arrives in Hidalgo through Tula and continues its course to the Zimapán dam.”

“A general alert is issued to the population of the Mezquital Valley that is near the Tula River: please evacuate”, Fayad noted on Twitter.

He said that “according to information from the National Water Commission, the Danxhó dam in Jilotepec, State of Mexico, is evacuating a surplus of liquid that will go to the Tula River, which together with the possibility of rainfall in Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico represents a risk of flooding”.

He also asked the population to follow the instructions of the aid and civil protection authorities and said that in order to safeguard life, people should go to the temporary shelters installed in the different municipalities.

In addition, to stay informed through official communication media “so as not to generate misinformation or social stress.”

Meanwhile, the National Civil Protection Coordination reported that the increase in the level of rivers could affect communities such as Tula, Tepeji del Río, Tezontepec, Chilcuautla, Tlahuelilpan, Ixmiquilpan and Tasquillo.

In a message on Facebook, the municipal government of Tula also warned of the risk and called on all residents to evacuate the flooded areas.

“The National Water Commission warned about a new flood that the Tula River will present in the next few hours, which is why it asked the entire population that lives near the channel or in nearby bodies of water, to evacuate their homes and protect their integrity”, said the message.

On Monday, the rains that, according to authorities, began around 6:00 p.m. local time (23:00 GMT), caused the overflow of the Tula river, which left floods that in some cases exceeded two meters in height, in addition to thousands of victims.

As reported this Wednesday by the head of the IMSS, Zoé Robledo, the death toll in the Tula hospital was adjusted from 17 to 14. To these must be added two other people who had already lost their lives at the time of the floods, and they were awaiting funeral services.

On Tuesday, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reported that an emergency plan was activated in the region and promised aid to the victims.