5 killed in Mexican winter storm

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY

At least five people were killed and 35 others injured in the past two days as a strong winter storm hit Mexico, authorities said Friday.

The National Coordinator of Civil Protection of the Ministry of the Interior Luis Felipe Puente said 2,600 homes were damaged by rain, wind and cold weather.

“We calculate that 1,861 trees and 266 billboard fell down in 27 states of the country where we had strong gusts of wind,” Puente told a local television station.

Nearly 4 million people lost electricity service at some point, he said, but the service was mostly restored.

“We had atypical snowfall in the center of the country and really strong snowfalls in the north of the country,” according to the agency.

The eleventh storm of the season affected 27 of the country’s 32 states earlier this week with strong rain, snowfall and winds as strong as 70 kilometers per hour (44 miles per hour).

The Civil Protection agency said the affected regions were back to normal Friday.