Ex-Hurricane Earl death toll surpasses 45 as floods and landslides hit eastern Mexico

Sodden nation: meanwhile western Mexico braces for more deluges from Tropical Storm Javier

A federal agent helps clear mud from a house stricken by landslides and floods (AP)

At least 45 people have died in eastern Mexico following flash floods and landslides that saw homes swept away after rain that residents said was heavier than any they’d seen in their lives.

As rescue efforts continued on Tuesday in several mountain communities, officials warned the death toll from the weekend storms could yet go higher.

Most of those who died were in Puebla State with the remainder in the neighbouring state of Veracruz, officials said. The region was slammed at the weekend by the remnants of what had been Hurricane Earl, a category 1 storm that had earlier pummeled Belize.

The hurricane had weakened by the time it clipped the top of the Yucatan Peninsula and slid into the mountainous terrain of Veracruz. Nonetheless, it dropped hailstones and torrential rainfall that in many areas became channeled into valleys unleashing sudden flash flooding and erosion.

Worst hit was the small town of Huauchinango, in Puebla State, where at least 13 homes were buried by moving mud. Emergency rescue teams had been sent to the town with dogs trained to sniff out anyone who may still be trapped under earth and rubble and remained there on Tuesday.

“We continue to monitor rivers that are above critical levels,“ the Governor of Puebla, Javier Duarte, noted. ”It is a tragedy what has happened to our people in Huauchinango.”

Large swaths of Mexico are waterlogged after weeks of relentless and heavy rains, which increases the risks of landslides as hillsides become ever more unstable.

The capital, Mexico City, has also been tormented by relentless summer rains this year. The main motorway linking it to the the south was briefly closed by flooding caused by the weekend’s storm.

In the meantime, on the Pacific side of the country, a weakening tropical storm named Javier was expected on Tuesday to bring pounding rain to southern Baja California before heading into northern Mexico and some southern US states.

Javier still represented a threat for parts of rain-weary Mexico. “Additional weakening is expected during the next couple of days, and Javier is forecast to become a remnant low within the next day or so,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said in a statement.

It was expected nonetheless to drop between 2 to 4 inches of rain over the southern half of Baja as well as northwest mainland Mexico on Wednesday and into Thursday.

“The expected rainfall could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides,” the NHC said.