It has been two years today that 16 people died and more than 35,000 were left homeless in Tula de Allende. Homes and businesses have not yet fully recovered due to the lack of support from the three government agencies.
According to reports from the National Water Commission (Conagua), the Tula River overflowed in the early morning of September 7, 2021 due to an excess of 500 cubic meters flowing in its channel, double its natural capacity.
This damaged 1,700 businesses and more than 30,000 homes near the body of water, including the businesses of Rafael Salgado, Oswaldo Montoya and Merced Arteaga, three residents of this border region who have so far been unable to recover everything they had lost . so they told Criterion.
Walking the streets of the Atlanteans’ city, it is common to see many shops with their curtains drawn, even though it is a working day. Others have signs for rent and some are still being repaired.
The La Terminal commercial kitchen is located on Xicoténcatl Street, a few meters from the IMSS Zone 5 Hospital, where 16 people died during the flooding. The facility is run by Rafael Salgado and his family and was damaged in the disaster.
In an interview, Rafa recalled, as the other tenants know him, that two years ago he saw three decades of work go down with the water. He explained that the losses caused by the flood were about 100,000 pesos, in addition to the fact that the electrical structure had been damaged, so it took several months to reopen.
The merchant said he received only 11,000 pesos in support from the three government regulations, which was only for the purchase of some electrical appliances and was not even half of the investment he had to make.
In a similar situation are Oswaldo Montoya and Merced Arteaga, two artisans who have their shop in Plaza de la ArtesanÃa on the road to Zaragoza, one of the hardest hit areas.
Montoya has three locations. He recalled that on the night of September 6, 2021, he had to help his brother evacuate his home in the 16 de Enero neighborhood because the rise in river levels posed a risk.
He added that he used social media to find out about the state of his business as the street was flooded with water nearly two meters high. He had to wait for the liquid to sink before he could quantify the damage: total loss of his goods and materials.
He mentioned that he would need to apply for another loan to “get back some of what was lost,” which is a debt he has not yet fully paid off.
For her part, Merced Arteaga recalled that she had lost all her equipment for working quarry and stone, the main raw materials she uses.
He added that the damage to his company reached half a million pesos as some machines he used were worth more than 5,000 pesos.
Luis Godinez | pachuca
