Floods in Southern Mexico

International media have been focusing attention in recent weeks on massive floods in Pakistan and China. While not on the same scale as the tragedy unfolding in Pakistan, Mexico is dealing with the aftermath of its own very serious flooding in the southern part of the country.
Weeks of torrential downpours, with rainfall in many areas reaching more than double the yearly average, have led to widespread inundations.
The worst flooding has been in the lowland Gulf Coast, where the channels of major rivers have been unable to cope with the volumes of water fed into them by their network of tributaries. These tributaries begin in the mountainous areas upstream, which received the heaviest rainfalls