Floods trap 20,000 in Mexico

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico -- A massive wave of mud and water swept through a Mexican village Monday and as many as 16 people were feared buried, officials said, as rescuers elsewhere worked furiously to deliver aid to victims of flooding in Southern Mexico.

More than a week after rain-swollen rivers in neighboring Tabasco state burst their banks, an estimated 20,000 people remained trapped on rooftops. The Los Angeles Times reported that at least 30 bodies had been recovered from the fetid water that has covered two-thirds of the state, swallowed tens of thousands of homes and displaced an estimated 1 million residents. The Associated Press, however, put the death toll at 10.

The Mexican public has been horrified at televised images of desperate residents fighting over relief supplies and of sick, hungry victims packed into poorly equipped emergency shelters.

In Chiapas state, Monday's village landslide blocked an already swollen river and pushed a wall of water and debris over remote San Juan Grijalva, home to about 600 people, most of whom fled into the hills ahead of the advancing wave.

"This village practically disappeared," said Chiapas Gov. Juan Sabines, who was at the scene where rescue workers were digging for possible victims.

Residents said they were awakened by a rumbling roar and the sound of rocks rolling down from surrounding mountaintops.

"We didn't know what was happening, and then we went outside, and there were cracks opening the earth," said Domingo Sanchez, 21."We ran up the hill ... but soil kept coming down on us."

For several hours, Sanchez, his wife, mother and cousin fought for their lives in a valley where the only salvation lay in getting to higher ground.

They reached a hilltop just in time to look across the valley and see a landslide cover his grandparents' home. Sanchez believes at least nine of his relatives were buried.

In the capital of Villahermosa, 45 miles northeast, shelter supervisor Hortensia Carmona spoke of appalling conditions at a school where 900 people have taken refuge.

"The authorities sent us only enough food for 300 people," she told the daily newspaper Tabasco Today. "The situation is very serious. ... There is no medicine. It's terrible."

Gov. Andrés Granier ordered central streets in the capital closed to all but rescue workers to prevent looting.

President Bush expressed his sympathy Monday to Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Bush told Calderón the United States was ready to help the Mexican people meet their immediate needs and rebuild their lives and communities.

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said the U.S. had pledged $300,000 in emergency assistance to Tabasco and Chiapas.

After Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Mexico sent a convoy of soldiers and medical personnel to aid in the recovery.

On Monday, Mexican authorities continued trolling Villahermosa's water-filled streets looking for stranded residents.

River levels had begun to drop after rising to historic levels. The National Water Commission said it had begun efforts to start pumping the streets.

As helicopters carrying aid made stops in hard-hit areas, disputes broke out among victims who pushed through crowds and struggled frantically for the packages. Rescuers were focusing on "selective evacuations," primarily of sick people, and delivering supplies.

Soldiers created makeshift docks out of sandbags for boats that trolled the water-filled streets. Some people hitched boat rides back to homes they abandoned a week earlier to retrieve supplies before returning to shelters.

Many in Tabasco remained on the roofs or upper floors of their flooded homes, guarding their possessions from looters.

Calderón visited the area Sunday and promised to help victims with three months of free electricity and tax exemptions. He also vowed to crack down on looting.