The first named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season left four people dead, including three children, according to Mexican authorities. Storm Alberto has weakened to a tropical depression as it moves inland from northeastern Mexico.
The system brings heavy rain and flooding to the region.
The governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon told local media on Wednesday night that at least three people under the age of 18 had died due to the storm.
This Thursday morning (20), civil protection had reported a fourth death due to an electric shock, local Mexican media reported.
One of the victims was later identified by emergency services as a 15-year-old boy swept away by a current on the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico’s third-largest city in the state of Nuevo León, where the Santa Catarina River flooded.
The storm, however, brought much-needed rain to parts of Mexico, where some of the reservoirs had water levels as low as 8% due to a prolonged drought and a summer heat wave.
Brett Anderson, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said the extreme heat and drought experienced by Mexico will become more normal due to climate change, citing temperatures above historical averages in the capital, Mexico City.
Climate change is also expected to contribute to more storms in the Atlantic this hurricane season, as warmer ocean waters allow storms to intensify more quickly.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm will continue to bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of northeastern Mexico, likely producing “sizable urban flash flooding” and possibly fatal mudslides.
Much of the Texas coast could also continue to experience moderate flooding, according to the weather service.
The storm made landfall this Thursday (20), near the Mexican city of Tampico and is moving towards the west of the country at 30 km/h, with winds of up to 55 km/h, said the NHC.
Deaths after heavy rains in Central America
Forecasters warned that Alberto, which brought rain and storms in the Gulf of Mexico, was also interacting with formations in the Pacific, dumping more rain on Central America and causing flooding and landslides.
At least 25 deaths have been reported in Central America since heavy rains hit the continent last weekend.
About 17 died in El Salvador, eight in Guatemala and one in Honduras, where authorities said more than 900 people were evacuated from their homes.
Guatemalan authorities stated, this Thursday (20), that 370 people remained in temporary shelters and that almost 300 homes suffered serious damage.
“The climate crisis is making extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, more frequent and severe,” said Save the Children regional advisor Moa Cortobius.
“Around 35 million children live in exposed areas and are at risk this Atlantic season,” Cortobius added.
Source: CNN Brasil
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