Alberto weakens to tropical depression in northern Mexico, 4 dead By Reuters
(Reuters) – Alberto, the first named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has weakened to a tropical depression as it makes landfall in northeastern Mexico, bringing more heavy rains and flooding after leaving four people dead, including three children.
The governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon told the media that at least three people under the age of 18 died as a result of the storm. On Thursday morning, the security forces reported that a fourth person had died due to electrocution, local media reported.
One of the victims was later identified by emergency services as a 15-year-old boy swept away by the river outside Monterrey, Mexico’s third-largest city in the state of Nuevo Leon, where the raging Santa Catarina River burst its banks.
The storm, however, brought much-needed rain to many parts of Mexico, where some of its dams had water levels of up to 8% due to extended drought and summer heat waves, even filling the already depleted La Boca dam to capacity. .
Brett Anderson, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said extreme heat and drought in Mexico will become more common as a result of climate change, citing temperatures above the historical average of 5.2°C (9.4°F) in the capital, which received barely a third. of normal rainfall at this time.
Climate change is expected to affect more storms over the Atlantic this hurricane season, as warmer ocean waters allow stronger storms to intensify faster.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Alberto will continue to bring heavy rains and flooding to parts of northeastern Mexico and that much of the Texas coast could continue to see moderate flooding.
The storm began Thursday near the Mexican city of Tampico and is moving west across the country at 18 miles per hour (30 kph), with sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph), the NHC said.
Forecasters had warned that Alberto, which brought rain and storm surge to the Gulf of Mexico, was also interacting with the formation of the Pacific, together dumping heavy rains on Central America, causing floods and landslides.
At least 22 people have been reported dead in Central America since heavy rains last weekend. These include 13 in El Salvador, eight in Guatemala and one in Honduras, where authorities say more than 900 have been evacuated from their homes.
Guatemalan authorities said Thursday that 370 people remained in temporary housing and that nearly 300 houses were severely damaged.
“The climate crisis is making extreme weather events like typhoons and tropical cyclones more frequent and intense,” said Save the Children regional advisor Moa Cortobius.
Another 35 million children live in exposed and vulnerable areas this season in the Atlantic, he added.
