Storm season adds to pandemic worries for Mexico, C. America

Storm season adds to pandemic worries for Mexico, C. America

SeattlePI.com

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Weeks ago, civil defense officials in Mexico’s Tabasco state, one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic and now Tropical Storm Cristobal, asked health authorities for daily lists of infections in vulnerable communities.

State civil defense chief Jorge Mier y Terán designated a shelter in each township for people infected with the virus, but not hospitalized. His office advised Tabasco residents that during this hurricane season they should try to stay with relatives if rising waters forced them to leave their homes so as to avoid big gatherings in shelters, a recommendation shared by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Now authorities from Mexico’s Gulf coast to El Salvador in Central America are putting their storm season plans into action as the temporarily weakened Cristobal drops heavy rains while the pandemic reaches new heights in Mexico. The virus poses an additional risk for rescuers and evacuees and will make it harder to persuade people to leave their homes, experts say.

When Cristobal made landfall Wednesday as a tropical storm, Mier y Terán preventively evacuated 75 people from two communities. Their temperatures were checked and they were screened for symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The mix of the pandemic and what is expected to be a busy hurricane season has officials throughout the region worried about simultaneously managing multiple emergencies.

“COVID without a doubt complicates the operational logistics,” Mier y Terán said.

Cristobal weakened to a tropical depression Thursday with sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) after it moved inland. The storm emerged this week in the Bay of Campeche from the remnants of Tropical Storm Amanda, which had formed in the Pacific and...

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