At least 8 dead as storms lash Mexico's coasts

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- At least eight people died in 24 hours, buried in mudslides or swept away by raging rivers, as twin storms lashed Mexico's Gulf and Pacific coasts, authorities said Wednesday.

A tropical depression brought downpours in Gulf of Mexico states, while Tropical Storm Norman rumbled up the country's Pacific coast.

MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

In Tapachula, a city near the Pacific coast in the southern state of Chiapas, civil defense authorities said two adults and two children died late Tuesday, buried under mud and rocks unleashed by heavy rains.

At least 300 families had to be evacuated from their homes due to flooding in Chiapas, officials said.

Civil defense officials in Veracruz state reported two people died when they were swept away by rivers that jumped their banks. In neighboring Tabasco, the site of heavy damage from floods a year ago, soldiers reinforced flood barriers along rivers in the state capital of Villahermosa.

Meanwhile in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, home to such popular beach resorts as Acapulco and Ixtapa, two people drowned in a river as Norman roamed northward bringing heavy rains and gusts up to 55 mph, officials said.

Authorities issued a tropical storm warning along a 180-mile stretch of the Pacific coast from Zihuatanejo, next to Ixtapa, north to Manzanillo.

Mexico's National Meteorological Service said it expected Norman to weaken over the next 24 hours but still bring heavy rains to the country's central Pacific coast region.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For more Americas news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

See related sites about Americas

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.