Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa arranged for immediate help to begin sorting out the wet city mess. Chetumal workers hit the streets to clear clogged drainage wells while others were sent with industrial pumps to begin moving standing water.
Military personnel were also sent to help stranded residents. At least one elderly person required a medical transfer from their flooded home after becoming stuck inside.
Boxes and bags of basic food items were delivered to families in areas in need of assistance. Meals were delivered by hand to volunteers who were helping in the mass clean up.
"We are directly delivering food rations to families in the "Parque de las Casitas" in Chetumal who were affected by the floods. We continue working at ground level to help those who need us most!" Governor Lezama posted on social media.
Emergency shelters earmarked early this year for tropical storm purposes came in handy for emergency shelter use after the torrential rains. Temporary beds were set up to house those who were left with meter-deep water inside their homes.
State Secretary Cristina Torres held a press conference Saturday afternoon at which time she reported a total of 135 mms of rain had fallen on the city. She said within the first four hours, 63 mms was recorded, which is what collapsed the city drainage system.
Civil Protection and the Ministry of Public Works are continuing with the desilting of the city's drainage system. The Governor has arranged free towing services to rescue stranded vehicles. The Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC) helicopter is being used to fly over the area.
On Sunday morning, Quintana Roo State Civil Protection (Coordinación Estatal de Protección Civil) reported forecast more thunderstorms for the region.
"The Conagua National Water Commission-SMNm reports that for the next few hours, heavy occasional rains and electric shocks are forecast in the state's municipalities."
"A trough (low pressure channel) continues to be located over the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the entry of tropical maritime air from the Caribbean Sea towards the peninsular region and the state of Quintana Roo, will maintain cloudy skies most of the day," they said.
"Today, the rainy season will continue in the Yucatan Peninsula, the southeast and the east of Mexico due to the entry of humidity caused by the monsoon trough, which will extend very close to the coasts of the Mexican South Pacific, and two low pressure zones with probability of cyclonic development, one south of the coasts of Chiapas and another over the south of the Yucatan Peninsula.
"In interaction with an extensive low pressure channel in the southwest of the Gulf of Mexico, they will cause torrential rains (150 to 250 millimeters [mm]) in Campeche, Chiapas, the coast of Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatan," the SMN has forecast for Sunday.
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