Many parts of southern and central Mexico have been flooded after more than a week’s worth of heavy rains.
The southern Mexican state of Oaxaca has been worst affected. More than 7,000 people were evacuated from their homes as flood waters continued to rise. So far, at least five people have lost their lives in the floods. Heavy rain and floods have also affected the oil-producing state of Veracruz along the Gulf of Mexico coast.
The rainy season is now underway across much of Mexico. Since last Wednesday, the recent heavy rains have been particularly severe and persistent. Mexico’s rainy season starts around late May or early June and continues through into September and sometimes into October.
During the rainy season, most of the rainfall occurs during sharp afternoon thunderstorms, but recently, persistent and torrential rain has moved off the near Gulf, leading to widespread flooding.
In late October 2007, a week of torrential rain caused devastating floods across the banana-growing state of Tabasco. The low-lying area was completely submerged in water and over 700,000 people were affected.
Forecasters are expecting further heavy rain across much of central and southern Mexico over the coming weekend, but expect the rain to ease into the start of next week
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Friday 13 June
Contrasting weather across the US
While eastern states of the US have been reeling under a heat wave the last few days, an unusual “winter” storm has brought June snow across the northwest.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued snow warnings and advisories earlier this week as the storm moved east across Washington and Oregon States. Residents of East Oregon woke Monday morning to a scene more akin to winter, with snow blanketing gardens and with white out conditions on the roads. Heavy snow fell in the Cascades forcing trucks crossing the mountain passes to use tyre chains. Meanwhile the Department of Transport announced that it was the first time in 30 years that snowploughs had been used in June to clear Steven’s Pass.
The unusual cold and snowy weather is being attributed to this year’s La Nina, which brought parts of the US their snowiest winter on record. Today the storm has moved on to Montana and Idaho prompting further warnings from the NWS. As much as a foot of snow (12 inches) is forecast.
Across eastern states of the US it has been quite a different story though. Warm moist air from the Gulf has been drawn northwards across the east, bringing heat wave conditions as far north as New York. It looks as though the worst is now over though with showery weather moving east today bringing lower temperatures.
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Wednesday 11 June
Unsettled weather plagues Spain
Unsettled weather has continued to plague parts of Spain over the last few days, with heavy rain triggering floods.
After months of severe drought, Spain’s worst in over half a century, it is reported that May 2008 has been the country’s wettest since May 1971. Since the beginning of June, low pressure has continued to dominate bringing more wet weather, mostly across northern and eastern parts of the country. Last week, heavy rain across Spain’s Basque country triggered severe floods as streets were turned into rivers.
The recent rainfall has helped to address the deficit left in reservoirs over the last few months, so much so that Spanish authorities recently cancelled a controversial drought relief plan. This involved running a pipeline to redirect water from the Ebro River to the northeast region of Cataluña.
The rain has also caused a headache for the organisers of Expo2008 in Zaragoza in the run up to its opening. The event, perhaps ironically given the topic this year of “water and sustainable development” suffered some flooding as the Ebro River overflowed.
Further heavy rain caused severe flooding in Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha on Sunday with over 75mm (3 inches) of rain falling in 24 hours. The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) is forecasting further showers for the north and east today but with conditions expected to improve over the next few days.
