After heavy rains in Veracruz, which caused the Cazones River to overflow, thousands of families lost all their belongings. The federal government has begun providing financial support to those affected, in addition to food vouchers. Despite the help, in Poza Rica they regret the loss of personal objects and family memories that are now impossible to recover.
Poza Rica, Veracruz, October 25 (However).– “We saw how the agua It came and within minutes our house was completely flooded. A neighbor gave us shelter in her two-story house, but she also reached the second floor. We quickly went up to the roof and saw how people were in the water, animals, people who were on the roofs. My mom was shocked. My little sisters became desperate. We had never had one flood like this”, in this way María José Casanova remembers the ravages of the rains in Las Granjas, one of the most affected neighborhoods in Apart from Rica, Veracruz.
Together with her family, María waited for hours to leave her home on the afternoon of October 10, after the Cazones River overflowed its banks.
“The water still reached us about a meter and a half high. We saw a boat, we took my little sisters and we were walking. The water continued to rise. I carried my kitten in a backpack, when we were leaving we saw corpses… It went badly for us, very badly. Unfortunately we lost all our things,” he said from the Plaza Cívica March 18, in the center of the city of Poza Rica, where on October 22 the Secretariat of Welfare began the delivery of initial financial support of 20 thousand pesos to the affected people.
She went to register in the care module that the federal government installed because her family was not notified to receive these first resources.
Óscar, a resident of Ignacio de la Llave, is in a similar situation.
On the day of the flood, his family was only able to rescue a few clothes; they do not have official documents, so they approached him to ask for information on how to receive help. He is wearing his plastic boots full of mud because more than 10 days after the flood, the cleaning work continues. He says that he is looking to receive resources to rent at least a room since for now he lives with his family in a workshop.
According to data from the federal government, the floods caused the death of 35 people in Veracruz. In total, in Hidalgo, Puebla, Querétaro and Veracruz 80 people have died, at least 19 remain missing. So far, 92,024 homes have been censused.
In Poza Rica, the Welfare Secretariat reported that in a first stage they will distribute 20 thousand pesos to 3,500 families in the most affected neighborhoods of Veracruz, in addition to food vouchers that they will be able to collect during this week. The Secretary of the Navy will also provide them with belongings, a promise that President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced.
Subsequently, the federal government will provide a second support for housing, with amounts of 25 thousand pesos for those who suffered medium damage to their homes; 40 thousand pesos for major damages and 70 thousand pesos for total losses. Those who have affected commercial premises will receive 50 thousand pesos; Resources will also be allocated for those who lost crops, with amounts between 50 thousand and 100 thousand pesos, depending on the size of the affected plots.
“When the water went down, everything was mud. The mud reached 1 meter, 1 and a half meters. Everything was useless. It’s ugly because I see a lot of people acting strong… Even if you take precautions, you can’t stop this,” said Melitón Pérez, who lived in the Palma Sola neighborhood. The flood caused him and his partner to lose everything.
Patricia Álvarez, a resident of the Morelos neighborhood, says that with these resources she will be able to recover a little of the money she spent to get cleaning materials for her home, a job that she was able to start up to four days after the flood because she could not get closer to the place.
“Until the fourth day [empecé la limpieza]. I looked for someone to help me because it was very heavy, it’s muddy water. As the days go by we have to continue cleaning,” he said.
Government workers have also witnessed the pain of hundreds of people. Jazmín Pedrosa Vázquez, National Servant of the State of Mexico, was sent to Veracruz along with her colleagues, where they have spent more than 10 days censusing the thousands of victims in the Morelos neighborhood, Las Granjas, Ignacio de la Llave and the Florida neighborhood.
“Those neighborhoods were the ones that were affected the most. When we arrived, they were strong scenes, sad scenes, since there are many families that lost all their furniture, but there are many other families that had wooden houses, tin roofs and well, they lost everything, they lost their home, they lost their furniture, there were those who did lose everything.”
“The people who live here have been cleaning day by day. I really haven’t seen any family, in any house that I know, that have sat idly by. Everyone is helping, everyone is cleaning. Everyone is working to ensure that Veracruz moves forward,” he explained.
During the delivery of the first resources to people affected by the rains in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Ariana accompanied her partner, who lost his home in Ignacio de la Llave. Her voice breaks as she is grateful that they are both alive, but she says she is worried because she now has no income. Although she lives in an area that was not affected, she lost her job as a domestic worker in a house that was damaged.
Melitón Pérez thanked the money that the federal government began to distribute and the prompt response, but, like her partner, she regrets that they will not be able to recover personal items such as photographs and other family memories.
“Money matters because we can buy and do more, but our things, our family memories, we can’t get that back.”