VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - The newly homeless men and women of this flooded capital patiently line up to appear on a local TV station that has been broadcasting their messages day and night.
They speak quickly, mindful of others waiting. They say they're at a shelter and are OK. Some hold up handwritten signs with cell phone numbers and beg relatives to call. One woman, eight months pregnant, asks viewers for any information about her missing parents. They know it's a long shot. Few buildings have power for TVs.
Hope is all that remains for many of the estimated 1 million residents driven from their homes by floodwaters that still cover more than three-quarters of the Gulf state of Tabasco. Many lost their possessions in floodwaters that have risen as high as three stories.
Rescuers on Saturday continued to ferry stranded families from rooftops, and tens of thousands of people joined a bumper-to-bumper exodus for the higher ground of neighboring states.
Roughly half the population was said to have been displaced by flooding triggered by heavy rains this week. One death has been reported.
"We couldn't bring much," said Teresa Robles Pintado, 47, one of 800 refugees at a school serving as a shelter here. "We were rescued in small launches and they wouldn't let us bring clothes or anything because they needed to hurry and get other people."
Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier grew angry when he was shown video footage of looters carting off electronics from a store here. "They're not even taking food. Look at what they're taking. There's not even electricity for that stuff," he said.
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