STORY: :: Rescue workers evacuate dozens of people from
a children's hospital in Mexico after parts of it flood
:: Heavy rain caused its drainage system to collapse
:: San Bartolo, Mexico
:: June 20, 2024
:: Manuel Maza, Oaxaca civil protection director
"We evacuated approximately 80 people who were here, who came to visit their relatives or who came for a consultation and were ultimately trapped by the water current, so what we did was to coordinate, talk to them and get them out using vehicles and a bus from the hospital, at the moment they wanted to leave it was not possible because of the strong current. We have already made an evaluation of the entire perimeter of the hospital, the water levels are dropping."
Authorities reported no casualties at the Guillermo Zarate Mijangos hospital. Evacuated patients were treated at other local hospitals.
At least 30 people have died and thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes as storms and heavy rainfall continue to lash Central America, according to local officials.
The rains were due to a low-pressure channels interacting together across much of the country, as well as a monsoon trough drawing in moist ocean air from well into the North Pacific, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, boosted by remnants of Alberto, the Atlantic hurricane season's first named tropical storm.
