Some 19,000 people will be asked to leave their homes in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas over the next few days as workers clean up after November's floods - a task that the government fears could release pent-up floodwaters, according to dpa. Tabasco Governor Andres Granier was quoted Thursday as saying that around 15,500 residents of some 30 villages in Tabasco will be preventively evacuated ahead of the withdrawal of debris currently blocking the Grijalva river. An additional 3,500 people are expected to be evacuated in Chiapas for the same reason. "We are not going to allow anyone to stay, under any circumstances. We will not allow it. With all due respect, I want to tell people, you have to cooperate with us because your safety is at stake. Even if the chance (of flooding) is remote, there is a chance," Granier noted. Over 1 million people - half the population of Tabasco - suffered damages to their property in November, due to severe flooding that left some 80 per cent of the south-eastern Mexican state under water. On Tuesday, Mexican authorities will let water through a canal opened through the debris that still blocks a large part of the Grijalva river. The nearby Penitas dam is also set to let off water. The river was blocked in early November, when a mudslide buried the village of San Juan Grijalva, in Chiapas, leaving 16 people dead and six other missing.
