Authorities worked overnight into yesterday to clear highways blocked by mudslides along Mexico’s southern coast as Tropical Storm Agatha barreled down on the country, bringing torrential rains and strong winds.
Agatha made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Monday afternoon, touching down with 169kph winds near the beach town of Puerto Angel on the Pacific coast.
By Monday evening Agatha weakened to a tropical storm and is expected to dissipate further by yesterday evening, said the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), which maintained a warning of life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in Oaxaca state.
Photo: Reuters
Rain caused mud and rocks to slide into two highways in Oaxaca, blocking access to at least one area of the state, local authorities said.
The Mexican Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation was working to clear the roads late on Monday evening.
Some towns in Oaxaca were left without electricity, and one transformer exploded, authorities said.
Telephone lines were knocked out on Monday, forcing authorities to communicate by radio.
Agatha is expected to drop a total of 25cm to 41cm of rain on Oaxaca, with heavy downpours in nearby states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Tabasco and eastern Guerrero, the NHC said.
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