According to Mexico’s meteorological agency Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN) 110.3 mm of rain fell in 24 hours on 08 August in Sontecomapan in Catemaco Municipality 158 mm of rain fell in Jesús Carranza Municipality The state’s Civil Protection reported 3 fatalities after a landslide in Filomeno Mata Municipality Across the state more than 1,700 buildings were damaged and around 200 people were evacuated Bridges were damaged and several roads blocked by landslides and flooding Among the worst hit areas is the municipality of Espinal Civil Protection said 11 municipalities were affected in total Humanitarian and relief supplies have been sent to affected areas by the state government The Cazones river in Poza Rica approached danger levels prompting the evacuation of residents living close to the river Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList Katia dumped around 300 mm of rain in parts of the state triggering landslides that left 2 people dead Hurricane Katia made landfall as a category 2 hurricane but has since weakened to an area of low pressure and was situated in the north of the state of Puebla National Civil Protection Coordination are warning that the system is expected to continue to cause very strong to intense rainfall in the east and centre of the country Civil Protection reports that almost 300 mm of rain fell in some areas of Veracruz and over 220 mm in parts of Puebla over a 72 hour period La Ceibilla in Veracruz recorded 231.4 mm in 24 hours on 10 September The heavy rain caused rivers to overflow as well as several landslides Two fatalities were reported after a landslide in Xalapa The Cotaxtla river at Paso del Toro and Jamapa at Tejar both exceeded flood stage As many as 250 houses were damaged by floods and wind Around 400 people remain displaced and are staying in shelters Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news No one tracks police brutality against the homeless So while some shootings make international headlines the deaths of those living on the streets – though disproportionately high – often barely cause a ripple The man walked down the sidewalk, the blade of a kitchen knife glinting in his hand. He had taken a break from playing soccer with an old basketball on the tree-lined street in San Francisco’s Mission District. Now he sat on the ground, his back against a building. Three pedestrians passed by, walking at a steady pace, apparently unperturbed. Two police cruisers had pulled to a stop, blocking the street. Sergeant Nate Seger and officer Mike Mellone had stepped out of their cars, shouting as they walked toward the man. One of the officers carried a bean bag rifle. He cocked it and fired three times. As the fourth – and final – beanbag round was dispelled, the second officer began firing with live ammunition. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Seven shots. It was the shot to the head that killed the man. The bullet entered at the top of his skull, above his left eye, and exited at the base of his skull, behind his left ear. The man known in the neighborhood as “the homeless guy with the soccer ball” was dead. Read moreIn San Francisco, one out of every 200 people sleeps on the streets each night and they have lost their names: to homeowners But the homeless man who was killed by police on the streets of San Francisco one-story house a few blocks from the central square of the tiny Mayan village of Teabo with the remittances Luis Góngora sent home from San Francisco It was a home Luis Góngora never set foot in “He left so he could build this house,” said Fidelia del Carmen May Can as she sat in her sun-filled living room with pictures of her children on the walls and a framed photograph of her husband on a small table “I want people to know that we are without him The hope of being with him no longer exists.” The life and death of Luis Góngora occurred at the intersection of twin crises: homelessness and police killings the major cities of the US west coast have become as notable for their sprawling homeless encampments as they are for their billion-dollar companies tent cities compete for space on the sidewalks with the hordes of employees of firms such as Twitter The encampments can be magnets for crime – and police that means the homeless were 6.5 times more likely to be killed by police than the rest of the population The plot of sidewalk where Luis Góngora pitched his tent for the last few months of his life is about 3,000 miles away from where he grew up Luis Góngora’s family’s poverty stood out worked as an assistant for the local butcher where he was paid in meat rather than cash raised nine children in a one-room Mayan hut with a thatched palm roof and dirt floor She rose at 5am each day to prepare the k’eyem (corn flour mash diluted in water) for the family to drink for breakfast so Demetrio treated their ailments with traditional herbal medicines where he was paid in meat rather than cashPerhaps because of this poverty He shot loros – small green and yellow parrots with just a few ounces of meat on them The fat black iguanas that skulked among the rocks were good for a meal as well The pair were the youngest of the Góngora siblings and were both more comfortable speaking Mayan than Spanish “We dedicated ourselves to the fields,” José Góngora said then a girl – Luis began to travel to Cancún to find work Luis Góngora and his wife Fidelia as young newlyweds Photograph: Ivan Gabaldon/The GuardianThere are no jobs in Teabo as in many of the other predominantly Mayan rural towns that dot the jungle of Yucatán The ejido – communal farm land – provides food to eat or Chetumal six days a week – or for an entire tourist season – to earn money to support their families But those who can put together the fee for a coyote – a guide paid to smuggle migrants across the border – usually go to San Francisco The migration corridor between Yucatán and San Francisco was established one border crossing at a time As word of mouth and family connections grew it turned into something of a migration highway in the early 2000s There are estimated to be 50,000 Yucatecan migrants in the San Francisco Bay Area Thousands of Yucatecos work in the kitchens of San Francisco’s thriving restaurant scene and the wages earned there are visible in the landscape of Yucatecan towns where construction workers and modern houses are a sure sign of a relative in San Francisco A few blocks from the central square of Oxkutzcab a two-story structure featuring the iconic bay windows of San Francisco’s Victorian townhouses rises above a dusty intersection The Hotel Capitol was built over 14 years by a cook working at a restaurant in San Francisco’s Ferry Building Murals of the Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars adorn the walls thanks to the two chefs’ experience working in San Francisco restaurants “You can find everything in San Francisco,” said Marcelino Burgos a migrant who returned after several years working in San Francisco’s Chinatown as he sat in the shade outside his house in Oxkutzcab The town market in Teabo Photograph: Ivan Gabaldon/The GuardianAs Luis and José Góngora struggled to support their growing families on their efforts in the ejido It was José Góngora who first accepted the invitation of one of his older brothers to join him “somewhere north” Their mother pawned her gold earrings to pay the fee for a coyote and José arrived in San Francisco on September 11 The first thing he saw was news footage of the Twin Towers falling Assisted by a network of cousins already established in San Francisco José Góngora soon found work as a dishwasher and began sending money home whose family still lived in a Mayan hut in the land behind his parent’s house He sold a horse and a summer’s harvest and left for San Francisco in September 2002 The 31-year-old migrant could be forgiven for having high expectations Luis Góngora’s cousin and childhood friend had been living in San Francisco for 12 years and his experience hewed closely to the American dream Poot had found work at a restaurant as a janitor Twenty-six years later, Poot is the manager at the same restaurant. His wife and children were able to join him in San Francisco. One of his sons is studying biochemical engineering at the University of California When Poot ran across Luis Góngora at the main intersection of the Mission district a historically Latino neighborhood where the Yucatecos often cross paths he was able to quickly set his cousin up with a job as a prep cook at Mel’s Diner a 1950s throwback restaurant where the milkshakes are thick and the staff wear white paper caps and bow ties After bouncing around different buildings in the Mission for a few years Luis and José Góngora settled in an apartment at 1751 Market Street where they roomed with another man from Teabo The lawsuit revealed the hellish conditions – mold-encrusted walls It was there Luis and José Góngora spent some of their happiest years José Góngora photographed on the street in San Francisco where his brother Photograph: Andrew Burton/The GuardianMatthew Castro a waiter at Mel’s who quickly became best friends with the brothers A close-knit group of five – the Góngora brothers El Torero and his brother – they would hang out on the twin beds in the single room they rented The Góngora brothers would collect beer cans after a night drinking and return the recycling to Safeway for extra cash just bullshitting about life,” Castro said And the work was paying dividends back in Teabo where Luis Góngora’s money was building the house for his family and his children remained in school well past the age of 12 cracks in the foundation were beginning to spread in San Francisco The life of a Yucatecan migrant in San Francisco can be lonely “You start to drink to forget things,” is how Marcelino Burgos described the experience of being far from his family and working night and day among people who rarely spoke his language a friend of Luis GóngoraLuis Góngora lost his job at Mel’s Diner around 2010 or 2011 Most of the employees in the kitchen who spoke Mayan left Góngora was unable to do his job and got fired He found another job at another restaurant with Mayan speakers for about two years “He got really frustrated because he didn’t have money to send to Mexico,” Poot said No other people speaking Mayan – he couldn’t get a stable job left San Francisco and returned to Teabo to pursue his dream of being a bullfighter and returned to the apartment infrequently that Luis Góngora’s drinking and marijuana use transitioned into more serious drug abuse Another Yucatecan in the building was dealing heroin and Castro believes Luis Góngora got hooked José Góngora says that he never saw his brother using hard drugs Luis Poot got his cousin Luis Góngora his first job as a prep cook in San Francisco ‘I didn’t know how to help him.’ Photograph: Andrew Burton/The GuardianIt is unclear exactly how the brothers came to be evicted from 1751 Market José Góngora says that he was still leaving money for rent but he doesn’t know if the money made its way to the landlord the Góngora brothers struggled to “manage the household” since neither could read or speak English José Góngora returned to the Market Street building to find his apartment locked and his belongings in the trash He salvaged a bag with some photographs and personal items and was out on the street Homelessness was a harrowing experience for both of the brothers and the crisis forced them in different directions José Góngora stayed with friends for a few days and then found a room in a residential hotel for a week How was I going to arrive at work with this bag of stuff?” José Góngora later slept in public transit stations or on buses hoping to turn himself in and get deported to Mexico José Góngora convinced his cousin Poot to take him in imposing strict rules and caring for José Góngora until he recovered sending all of his wages back to his family José was the one following orders,” Poot explained Since 8 November 2013 – the day Poot accepted him into his house – José Góngora has not had a single beer or sip of alcohol Poot tried to arrange a similar rescue for Luis Góngora “Luis always wanted to make his own decisions,” Poot said If Luis had come knocking on my door instead of José but he didn’t follow the rules of the house – not going out at night and ringing the doorbell staying out of sight of the landlord – and it didn’t work Poot paid for Luis Góngora’s documents to be sent to San Francisco so he could send his cousin back to Mexico Another relative took Luis Góngora to live in San Jose “I didn’t know how to help him,” Poot said the worse Luis Góngora’s mental state seemed to get “He would be confused when he was talking to you and sometimes he would just be talking to himself on the street,” Poot said Luis slept on the sidewalk in front of the building where his brother and cousin lived in an apartment with Poot’s wife and children don’t come knocking on the door because if the owner sees you he might be given a reason to throw us out,” Poot recalled Despite his downward spiral in San Francisco Luis Góngora kept up appearances with his family in Teabo “The saddest part is that the family is learning now how he was living “I never told them because I thought it would cause them sadness.” Luis Góngora’s widow stands with their daughter two sons and grandchildren at their home in Teabo Photograph: Ivan Gabaldon/The GuardianJosé Góngora was at the laundromat on 7 April when he heard police sirens He didn’t think of it again until the next day He told his manager that he needed to leave early When he arrived at the homeless encampment where Luis Góngora had been living for the past few months José Góngora asked for his brother’s whereabouts by miming kicking a soccer ball A homeless outreach worker from a neighborhood non-profit grabbed his arm and said The broad details of Góngora’s death are made plain by security video provided to the Guardian by a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous because he feared police retaliation The camera caught images of Góngora in his final hours and audio of the beanbag and live ammunition being fired What is in dispute are the exact actions of the police and Góngora during the final 30 seconds that led up to the shooting Góngora was sitting just out of the frame of the video footage The story of his killing can only be composed by the testimony of the police who killed him and the witnesses who saw it happen The fatal encounter was set in motion when two homeless outreach workers went to the homeless encampment where Luis Góngora lived responding to a report that a baby was crying but police say the outreach workers saw Góngora “swinging [a knife] indiscriminately as he walked down the street” Former San Francisco police chief Greg Suhr told members of the public that Góngora was “seated on the sidewalk with a large knife and the blade pointed up” when police officers arrived on the scene. (Suhr was fired in May shortly after San Francisco police shot and killed an unarmed black woman in a car.) “They tried to shoot him in the arm to get him to drop the knife,” Suhr told reporters when asked why police officers deployed beanbag rounds at a seated man The San Francisco police department alleged that “lunged” or “ran at” at the officers with the knife I want to know if before I die there will be justice for LuisEstala, mother of Luis GóngoraThe Guardian has interviewed six eyewitnesses to the shooting They include three homeless residents of the encampment who were standing on the sidewalk about 20 yards from the shooting two residents of apartments overlooking the street and one pedestrian who was on the sidewalk opposite to the incident All of them contest the police version of events “I would by no stretch of the imagination say that he was charging them,” said S Smith Patrick a documentary film-maker who had an unobstructed view of the shooting from her second-story window across the street The incident is subject to three independent investigations the San Francisco office of citizen complaints A civil rights attorney representing Góngora’s widow and children has filed a claim against the city of San Francisco a precursor to a civil lawsuit for wrongful death and excessive force “Based on multiple eyewitness accounts that are part of our preliminary investigation Luis Góngora lunged at one of our officers with a large knife,” a spokesman for the city attorney said in response to the lawsuit “Góngora posed an immediate and deadly threat and our officers’ use of lethal force was necessary and legally justified.” a fact that is difficult for Góngora’s family in Teabo to accept cried as she sat in a hammock in her house in Teabo no one reached out to touch her or comfort her her daughter-in-law and granddaughter grabbed pillows and began to fan her with cool air from behind “if before I die there will be justice for Luis.” In the living room of Luis Góngora’s house Maria Guadalupe Cruz sat in a chair before a shrine to her brother-in-law Luis leading a roomful of women in el rezar – the prayer It was 7 July, the morning after police in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop and two days after police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, shot and killed Alton Sterling while he was selling CDs The deaths of those two men made international headlines sent protesters into the streets across the US 7 July was the three month anniversary of a tragedy that continues to play out on a smaller stage in the living room of the house that the homeless man built puedo comprender que una madre no se cansa de esperar,” Cruz sang I understand that a mother does not get tired of waiting.” and a town where the women have grown accustomed to waiting Luis Góngora’s mother sits at the entrance to the traditional Mayan house where her son and his wife lived when they were first married Photograph: Ivan Gabaldon/The GuardianThey wait for their husbands and sons to come home from the places they go to find work: the ejido Luis Góngora left Teabo almost 14 years ago He did not see his family move out of the Mayan hut with a palm-leaf roof and dirt floors and into the one-story house with two bedrooms and a bathroom that was built with the money he sent home from San Francisco He never slept on a hammock slung between the hooks on the walls or ate in the kitchen where his relatives gather around the table to honor his memory by eating his favorite dish Luis Góngora’s presence is not missing from these rooms But what is missing from the Góngora household from his nieces and nephews and his mother and father – what is missing is the presence of the hope that he might one day return because he used to say he would come back to meet his grandchildren,” said Rosana “Sometimes I imagine that he is still alive.”