Mexico flood traps 300,000 in homes

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Rescuers worked in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco to help the estimated 300,000 people trapped in their homes by massive flooding.

Heavy rains left the majority of the state deluged, affecting more than 1 million people and causing thousands to flee their homes for emergency shelters, the BBC reported Friday.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in a Thursday television address that situation is "extraordinarily grave."

"It's one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the country," he said.

Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier has called on local boat owners to assist with rescue operations.

"We have lost 10 percent of our crops and 70 percent of the state is under water," he said.

"We are just like New Orleans," he said, referring to the 2005 flooding of the U.S. city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "All the water that comes in has to be pumped out."

One death resulting from the floods has been confirmed.

Gustave Medinas, a Red Cross official in Mexico City, said donations of food and other items are pouring in from private citizens.

"The aid has been sent by helicopters, by Red Cross vans, and then by boat," he told the BBC.