Javier Duarte said through his official Twitter account that three people died in a mudslide in the town of Coscomatepec, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of the state capital, Xalapa.
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Rafael Morena Valle, governor of Puebla state, said canine units were searching for the missing, but the number of unaccounted for residents was unclear.
And depending on the persistence of storms, there is the distinct possibility of a tropical depression possibly forming in this region at some point by mid-late next week.
“It is a tragedy what has happened to our people in Huauchinango”, he said.
While the storm has been downgraded, the heavy rains will continue, forecasters said.
The death toll from Tropical Storm Earl climbed to 38 in Mexico on Sunday after powerful rain triggered landslides in the states of Veracruz and Puebla, officials said.
Heavy rains of between 4 and 8 inches are expected along with high winds.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Javier formed off Mexico’s Pacific Coast on Sunday and headed northward. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 12 miles per hour (19 kph).
Before becoming a tropical storm and now a tropical depression, it was Hurricane Earl.
The approaching Tropical Storm Javier is expected to bring heavy rains and high winds to south-western Mexico in the coming days, United States weather forecasters said.
On the other side of Mexico, authorities prepared as newly formed Tropical Storm Javier churned over the Pacific toward the resort-dotted southern end of the Baja California Peninsula.
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Javier arrives in the wake of Earl, which was briefly a hurricane before hitting Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula, dumping rain and triggering deadly landslides across parts of eastern Mexico. It regained strength after passing over the Gulf of Mexico before making a second landfall on Veracruz’s coast late Friday.
