Over 100 Cities in Veracruz Declared Emergency Areas After Tropical Storm Barry Latino Daily
go to original June 24, 2013

Ismael Vela Hernandez, 60, stands inside his flooded home after heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Barry in the city of Veracruz, Mexico, Thursday June 20, 2013. Barry has weakened to a tropical depression but is still producing torrential rains. (Felix Marquez/Associated Press)

An emergency declaration has been issued for 109 cities in Veracruz affected by Tropical Storm Barry, which killed one person, injured three others and caused extensive damage in the Gulf state last week, the Mexican Government Secretariat said.

The emergency declaration was issued to assist cities affected by the storm, which made landfall last Thursday in Veracruz, the secretariat said.

The declaration opens the way for the release of money from the Natural Disaster Fund, or Fonden, to deal with the damage caused by the storm.

City governments will “now have the resources to deal with the food, clothing and health needs of the population affected” by Barry, the secretariat said.

The storm caused several rivers in Veracruz to overflow their banks, flooding numerous communities and forcing officials to move more than 1,000 people into temporary shelters.

Barry was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kph (40 mph) when it made landfall in Veracruz, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Classes were cancelled in all 212 of the municipalities in the state, which had been suffering from a drought for several months.

Barry was the second named storm of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30.

Read the original at Latino Daily

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