Three more reported dead in Mexico as result of Alex

Jul 2, 2010, 3:49 GMT

Mexico City - Three more people were confirmed dead in flooding as a result of tropical storm Alex in northern Mexico, officials in the Nuevo Leon province told El Porvenir newspaper Thursday.

The normally dry river Santa Catarina flooded as the storm came through the city of Monterrey, carrying away vehicles and flooding streets.

The deaths bring to at least seven the number killed in Mexico as a result of the storm, including three in Pie de la Cuesta, close to Acapulco, and one dead in the state of Oaxaca, Mexican television reported.

The storm also killed five people in Nicaragua, three in El Salvador and two in Guatemala, the report said.

Alex had dissipated over central Mexico by late Thursday, but heavy rain was expected to continue, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Alex had earlier been downgraded to tropical storm level after pummelling the Texas and Mexico coasts as a category 2 hurricane. At its height late Wednesday and early Thursday, Alex swept ashore with winds of up to 170 kilometres per hour at Matamoros, Mexico, just south of the Rio Grande river border with Texas.

It destroyed homes, flooded streets and forced evacuations. In Mexico, an estimated 20,000 people needed to leave their homes. In Texas, it was 1,000. Two tornadoes escorted the hurricane across the region.