Cathedral serves as refuge for flood evacuees in southeastern Mexico

Published: 2007-11-05

VILLAHERMOSA, MEXICO (CNS) -- Wailing babies crawl about on heaps of mattresses and blankets in front of the altar. Exhausted grandmothers lie down on the pews and stare up at the stained-glass murals. Thousands of hungry faces line up outside the arched door, waiting for packets of food and water. The elegant cathedral in the Tabasco state capital of Villahermosa has transformed into one of the principal centers for evacuees fleeing floods that devastated southeastern Mexico in late October, leaving at least 10 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless and turning sections of this city into a hazardous swamp. More arrive daily to take shelter in every corner of the cathedral and throughout its patio and gardens. Each one brings a story of personal tragedy: how filthy waters enveloped their homes; how they fled from rooftops onto boats and helicopters moving over the riverlike streets; how they lost sight of their loved ones in the chaos.

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