World

Six killed as Hurricane Alex floods major Mexican city

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-03 11:38

Residents survey the damage on a destroyed street following a landslide caused by Hurricane Alex in Monterrey July 2, 2010. [Agencies]

MONTERREY, Mexico - Intense rain from Hurricane Alex shut down Mexico's richest city, Monterrey, on Friday, as floods killed six people, swept away cars and swamped wealthy suburbs with mud and rocks.

More than a year's worth of rain fell in three days from the first named Atlantic storm of the 2010 season, swelling dry river beds and destroying chunks of highway in the city, about 620 miles (1,000 km) north of Mexico City.

Related readings:  Hurricane Alex threatens Gulf of Mexico  Hurricane Alex could make land late Wednesday  Hurricane watch for Mexico, US as Alex strengthens

One woman was crushed to death by a mudslide as huge rocks from the surrounding mountains crashed down on roads.

"I thought we were going to die," housewife Lesly Ramos told local radio as she surveyed her home filled with rocks and mud in a middle-class suburb.

The floods dragged away furniture from mansions in the San Pedro Garza Garcia suburb, Mexico's wealthiest municipality, and buffalo were washed out of the city zoo.

Railroad company Kansas City Southern, which owns tracks and operates trains in Mexico and the United States, said the storm had damaged some of its rail lines, forcing it to partially shut cargo transport in several northern Mexican states.

Normally spared from hurricanes coming off the Gulf of Mexico, Monterrey was caught unprepared for the storm that came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday night after it killed 12 people in Central America. The storm missed oil rigs in the Gulf.

Alex powered inland in Mexico, bringing up to 30 inches (80 cm) of rain in some areas of Monterrey.

"That is more than the accumulated amount of rain in the 365 days of the year," said Jorge Camacho, director of rescue services in Nuevo Leon state, of which Monterrey is the capital.

Many businesses in the city, which has the highest per capita income in Mexico and is home to drinks giant Femsa and global cement maker Cemex, shut down as authorities closed bridges over the Santa Catarina river, usually bone-dry but surging on Friday.

Tens of thousands of homes were without water and electricity on Friday and many huddled in shelters. Although the rain lessened, authorities were still on high alert.