After the flood

Disaster relief | For victims of Mexico’s worst flooding in 50 years, cleanup requires seasoned outside helpers willing to go the distance | Ralph Kurtenbach

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico— The scrap metal never stops arriving at Alberto's place in Villahermosa, Mexico. Throughout the day neighbors bring pushcarts, shopping carts, and discarded baby carriages laden with steel, copper tubing, and aluminum cans to dump in a mound inside Alberto's large garage.

Nearly two months ago record-breaking rainfall inundated Tabasco, causing Mexico's worst flooding in over 50 years—and at one point covering about 80 percent of the low-lying, oil-rich state. The floodwaters trapped 300,000 people in their homes, forced thousands to live on their rooftops for weeks, and has left wreckage everywhere.

Alberto witnessed a spike in the supply of scrap from Villahermosa's streets after floodwaters subsided. In the same way, relief workers see a spike in needs even as Mexicans try to return to normal.