Tropical storm Hilary’s passage leaves 4 dead in northwestern Mexico

Tijuana, Mexico, Aug 21 (EFE).- The passage of tropical storm Hilary, which made landfall twice in Mexico on Sunday, once as a category 1 hurricane, has so far left four people dead in the country, including two in Baja California state’s border city of Tijuana, one in Baja California Sur and another in Sinaloa, authorities said Monday.

The first victim died on Friday in Navolato, in the northern Sinaloa state after his truck was swept away by floods caused by rain. His body was found several kilometers away.

In Mulegé, in the northern Baja California Sur state, a current of water on Sunday dragged a vehicle in which five members of a family were traveling into the sea, killing one of them.

On the other hand, Hilary’s passage through the border city of Tijuana, in Baja California, has so far left two people dead as a result of continuous rainfall throughout Sunday and early Monday morning.

Municipal authorities said that one of the victims was a young woman who died after being trapped in her car in a traffic accident on Sunday evening.

The other person was a man who went out to fish in the sea and was dragged inland due to the weather conditions. His body was found on Saturday morning on the coast of Playas de Tijuana.

Tijuana’s fire chief Rafael Carrillo Venegas told EFE that, despite these damages, the severity of the passage of the tropical storm was not as serious as expected, because it split into two parts.

He explained that this happened mainly because the mountainous areas help to dissipate the winds coming from the Pacific while the temperatures in this northern region prevent these gusts of wind from becoming stronger.

In a tour on Monday morning, EFE found municipal service personnel in some areas affected by the rain attending to the places where floods and landslides occurred, including part of the Zona Norte, located one kilometer from the border port of San Ysidro, and adjacent to the coastal area. EFE

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