The aftermath of last week’s torrential rains in central and eastern Mexico has left communities reeling, with a stench of decay lingering over devastated towns and the full scale of destruction only now coming into focus. In places like Poza Rica, a city near the Gulf of Mexico known for its oil production, and Huehuetla, an Indigenous town nestled in the mountains of Hidalgo, residents are grappling with the aftermath of floods and landslides that have killed at least 66 people and left 75 more missing, according to government figures reported on October 15, 2025 (Associated Press, AFP).
As the waters receded, they revealed a grim tableau: animal carcasses rotting in the mud, furniture and debris piled high in the streets, and layers of silt coating homes and businesses. In Poza Rica, the air is thick with dust and the foul odor of decay, spreading for miles. Soldiers have been working around the clock on the city’s main avenue, but farther east, near the Cazones River—which overflowed on Friday—streets remain submerged under three feet of water and mud, topped by an astonishing six feet of trash and ruined belongings (Associated Press).
“A week later, this looks horrible—worse. You can’t even cross the street,” lamented Ana Luz Saucedo, who fled with her children when the floodwaters surged in “like the sea.” Her fears now extend beyond the loss of property: she worries about the risk of infection, as a corpse near her home remains uncollected. “The dead body has already started to rot, and no one has come for him,” she said (Associated Press).
The devastation is not limited to Poza Rica. Across Hidalgo, Puebla, and Veracruz—states that bore the brunt of the disaster—overflowing rivers swept away homes, roads, and bridges, while landslides isolated nearly 200 communities. Most of these are in the mountainous heart of Hidalgo, where helicopters have struggled to reach survivors due to persistent cloud cover (Associated Press, AFP).
In Huehuetla, home to about 22,800 people, the situation is dire. Vultures circle overhead, and the mud, sometimes as deep as two meters (6.5 feet), coats every storefront along the main street. Power outages and impassable roads have left residents feeling abandoned. “We’re going to get sick,” warned 55-year-old Maria Licona, who was forced to evacuate and now fears that uncollected dead animals will lead to disease outbreaks (AFP).
The clean-up effort in Huehuetla has been slow and grueling. Residents are digging out their homes by hand, with only about 10 soldiers visible aiding the process, although more are reportedly making their way into town. Bartolo Quirino, a 42-year-old beekeeper, voiced a sentiment shared by many: “There’s not enough help” (AFP).
The trauma of the disaster lingers. “We saw how the houses were being dragged away,” recalled Maria Luisa Maximino, 57, who survived by climbing to the upper floor of a neighbor’s house with her 15-year-old grandson. For Dolores Tellez, a 55-year-old housewife, the ordeal is far from over. She was pulled from a torrent of mud by neighbors, and rumors of another landslide on Sunday sent fresh waves of panic through the community (AFP).
Authorities have attributed the disaster to a rare convergence of weather systems: two tropical systems, a cold front, and a warm front all struck as an unusually intense rainy season was winding down. The result? Rivers were already saturated, and hillsides were primed for collapse. Meteorologists note that while heavy rains are common during Mexico’s wet season from May to October, this combination created a perfect storm (Associated Press, AFP).
As the government’s rescue and recovery efforts continue, the scale of the challenge is daunting. Nearly 200 communities remain cut off, and helicopters have been unable to reach many of them due to the weather. President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged the difficulties, stating that more than 4,000 army and navy personnel are now deployed in disaster-hit areas to repair roads and restore access. “We wish all this could be faster, but cleaning and road-clearing teams are arriving,” she said (AFP).
Yet, for many residents, the response has felt too slow. In Poza Rica, some residents believe that warnings came too late to make a difference. “Many people died because they didn’t give notice—really, they didn’t warn us,” said Saucedo. “They came only when the river was already overflowing … not before, so people could evacuate” (Associated Press).
President Sheinbaum addressed these concerns, noting that alert systems for floods and landslides operate differently from those used for hurricanes. She announced that, once the emergency phase ends, officials would review river maintenance and emergency protocols to determine “what worked, what we need to improve and whether there are better alert mechanisms” (Associated Press).
In the meantime, emergency deployments of soldiers, marines, and civilian teams continue across the hardest-hit states, joined by hundreds of volunteers. Acts of solidarity have emerged amid the hardship: in Poza Rica, a group of women from the port city of Veracruz distributed clothing and 1,000 tamales to flood victims, offering a measure of comfort to those who lost everything (Associated Press).
Authorities are also racing to restore access on dozens of blocked roads, bring back electricity, and monitor dams—many of which are now at maximum capacity. The threat of further flooding looms if additional rains arrive, and the risk of disease grows as the cleanup drags on and decomposing material remains uncollected (Associated Press, AFP).
For the people of Poza Rica, Huehuetla, and countless other communities, the road to recovery will be long and arduous. The scars of last week’s disaster are everywhere—etched in the mud-caked storefronts, the ruined homes, and the haunted eyes of survivors. But amid the devastation, there are glimpses of resilience and solidarity, as neighbors help neighbors and volunteers arrive with food and clothing. As the region waits for more aid and a thorough review of emergency systems, the hope is that lessons learned from this tragedy will help prevent a repeat when the next storm comes.