VERACRUZ, Mexico, Aug. 7 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Earl swept in to Veracruz with heavy rains Saturday, leaving six dead in its path.
Local authorities said a mudslide had buried a rickety shack, leaving a couple and their infant son dead in the mountainous town of Tamazolapa. Two others, whose homes were destroy, were injured in the state capital of Xalapa, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported.
Authorities said a second mudslide in Tequila, a small town in the same mountainous region, buried a house, killing three family members, including a young boy.
Tropical Storm Earl damaged about 2,000 homes and caused 15 small rivers in Veracruz to overflow their banks.
Other victims were found earlier in the storm’s path, BBC reported.
The storm killed at least nine Monday as it began taking shape in the Caribbean. Six of those victims were on board a bus that caught fire in Nagua, Dominican Republic after it was hit by falling live power lines. Another three people were reported drowned in Haiti when their tour boat capsized.
The storm hit land Friday night just south of the port of Veracruz, pounding the region with powerful winds and torrential rains.
The storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, its winds dropping to 30 miles per hour, but the large amount of rainfall it dropped is still causing issues.
Some Mexican villages in the path of the storm have been cut off after bridges were destroyed by overflowing waterways.
Coscomatepec, the town where the young family died, was dealt a similar tragedy in 2013 when a landslide there killed 13 people, including eight children and six people from one family.
