At least 41 dead and a trail of destruction, with landslides, collapses and floods, are the result of the intense rains that have been unleashed on Mexico since last Thursday, the government reported federal.

A statement from the federal Ministry of Security reported that the death toll has risen to 41 in the central states of Hidalgo, Puebla, Queretaro and Veracruz (east).

These rainfalls occur at the end of the wet season, after a tropical system from the Gulf of Mexico entered the Sierra Madre Oriental from the east, which favored the rainfall, according to meteorologists.

Sierra Madre Oriental, disaster area

President Claudia Sheinbaum ordered the deployment of some 10,000 soldiers to assist the affected populations of 117 municipalities.

“Members and teams of the Mexican government are deployed to open roads and assist communities,” the president wrote on the X network after a video meeting with the governors of the affected states.

The disaster area is the Sierra Madre Oriental, an extensive mountain range that runs parallel to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is riddled with small towns.

In these districts, more than 35,000 homes have been damaged, primarily by overflowing rivers, forcing entire families to abandon their homes, the government report added.

The rainfall has also caused landslides and mudslides that have closed modern highways and rural roads leading to small towns.