Chetumal Residents Fear Flooding as Drainage Works Stall

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Residents in Chetumal are warning that the city’s storm drainage system is about to collapse, as improvement works that began in May remain incomplete and the rainy season continues.

Neighbors in flood-prone neighborhoods said the drainage network is expected to fail again with the first moderate downpour. They also noted that the unfinished street projects have already disrupted vehicle traffic and that they have received no word on when the work might end.

Residents called the city council’s announced cleanup efforts inadequate, arguing that the drainage network lacks the capacity to handle heavy rainfall.

City officials said they have carried out cleaning work on four open-air discharge channels as part of efforts to speed up water runoff. Omar Echazarreta, Chetumal’s municipal civil protection coordinator, said debris and materials that could block the flow were removed from those channels.

Authorities described the actions as preventive and aimed at reducing flood risk during the rainy season.

But Manuel Rosas, a resident of the Las Casitas neighborhood, said the measures will not be enough because municipal works are badly behind schedule. “We are about to enter September and the heavy rains are still not over, and the supposed expansion of the storm drainage network at the intersection of San Salvador and Morelos avenues — the one that floods the most — is still not finished, so everything points to us suffering again,” he said.

Carolina Buenfil, a resident of Nueva Italia, also criticized the slow progress. She said that four months later, the works that were supposed to prevent flooding are still going on.