Sawt Falasteen - Flood-hit Mexican town digs out debris, fearing disease outbreaks

Vultures circle over the town of Huehuetla in the central state of Hidalgo, which, along with Puebla to the south and Veracruz in the east, bore the brunt of days of torrential rains.

Overflowing rivers coursed through villages, sweeping away homes, roads and bridges and triggering landslides.

Authorities say 75 people are still missing.

Aid has been slow to arrive in Huehuetla, an impoverished Indigenous town of about 22,800 inhabitants.

The floods knocked out power and debris from landslides left roads damaged or unpassable. Layers of mud coat every business on Huehuetla's main street.

Maria Licona, a 55-year-old resident who was forced to evacuate her home, told AFP she feared that uncollected dead animals would spread disease.

"We're going to get sick," she warned.

- 'Not enough help' -

Refrigerators, mattresses, sofas and stuffed toys peek out from underneath the rubble, with the mud in some points rising as high as two meters (6.5 feet).

Residents are now engaged in the Herculean task of clearing mud from their homes, some with their bare hands.

AFP saw only 10 soldiers helping the clean-up effort, although a dozen others were seen making their toward the town on foot.

"There's not enough help," said Bartolo Quirino, a 42-year-old beekeeper.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said more than 4,000 army and navy personnel were working in disaster-hit areas to repair roads.

"We wish all this could be faster, but cleaning and road-clearing teams are arriving," she said.

Many people in Huehuetla were still traumatized by the disaster.

"We saw how the houses were being dragged away," 57-year-old Maria Luisa Maximino said tearfully.

She had survived the floodwaters by climbing to the upper floor of her neighbor's house with her 15-year-old grandson.

Dolores Tellez, a 55-year-old housewife who had been pulled by neighbors from a torrent of mud, said rumors of a new landslide on Sunday triggered panic.

Heavy rains often occur during Mexico's wet season from May to October, but last week's downpours were made more dangerous by the combination of a tropical system from the Gulf of Mexico and a cold front from the north, according to meteorologists.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST