The Mexican president pointed out that the entry of water to the Peñitas dam is being reduced.
VILLAHERMOSA, TABASCO (November 7th, 2020). After flying over the Peñitas dam and flooded areas, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that the situation is no longer as serious as it was thought, and offered direct support for the victims.
Accompanied by the security cabinet and the governor of Tabasco, Adán Augusto López, AMLO said that with the support of technicians it was agreed to draw water from the dam without affecting the inhabitants of the Tabasco plain that much.
“We are here to express our support in this difficult circumstance that is suffered by the people of Tabasco due to the floods; I was touring the states of Nayarit and Sinaloa, when I decided this morning to cancel that tour and come to Tabasco because the situation was looking dangerous in the Peñitas Dam”.
“According to the technicians, since that dam was built, it had never rained so much, never had there been precipitation of 3,500 cubic centimeters per second, and this forced the CONAGUA authorities to release more water and exhaust the dam, “he said.
At a press conference, he explained that after the overflight it was found that it had stopped raining and the entry of water to Peñitas is less and the volume of the dam is being reduced.
“The situation is now different, and work is being done to attend to the victims. In addition, direct support will be given, without intermediaries”, AMLO said.
The President also dismissed the head of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) , Manuel Bartlett, who was criticized and sued by the Tabasco government, who accuses him of mishandling the situation.
The rains of cyclone Eta and cold front number 11 have left at least 80 thousand affected and 21 deaths in the Mexican southeast, two due to drowning in Tabasco and 19 in Chiapas, according to the Civil Protection system.
Tabasco authorities reported that during the following days a significant decrease in the potential for rainfall in the state is expected, However, the risk still persists, due to the rainfall registered since Wednesday in Chiapas and Guatemala, which is why the population was asked to take extreme precautions.
Source: El Heraldo de México
