Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Javier to hit Southwest

The national Civil Protection coordinator of the Ministry of the Interior, Luis Felipe Puente, said at a news conference that the official figures of fatalities in Veracruz are 13 and 32 in Puebla.

Earl was briefly a Category 1 hurricane before hitting the Central American nation of Belize and then Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, dumping rain and triggering landslides. Nonetheless, it dropped hailstones and torrential rainfall that in many areas became channeled into valleys unleashing sudden flash flooding and erosion. 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.

“It is a tragedy what has happened to our people in Huauchinango, ” he said.

As storm chances increase, the biggest concern will be drenching rain that could lead to flooding Tuesday night and Wednesday. It is expected to bring heavy rains, gusty winds and high waves off the coast of Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit.

Parts of Arizona and New Mexico could be hit with more heavy rain as moisture associated with Tropical Storm Javier moves through the region.

Rains set off mudslides in eastern Mexico, burying homes and killing 38 people.

The storm was centred about 50km south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas yesterday, with maximum sustained winds of 95km/h, down from a peak of 100km/h, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Still, the storm is expected to dump between 2 to 4 inches (5-10 cm) of rain over the southern half of Baja as well as northwest mainland Mexico through Thursday morning.