A week of torrential rainfall and flash floods in Mexico and Central America have left at least 250 people dead and 200,000 homeless, while hundreds more people are reported missing as entire villages have been engulfed by mud and water.
In the Sierra Norte, in Mexico's Puebla state, the government ordered two hydroelectric plants to close down as waters reached bursting point, threatening to flood nearby villages.
The rains have already left 136 people dead and 150 missing in the Teziutlan district of Puebla, where an avalanche of mud buried a school which was being used as an emergency shelter, resulting in an estimated 40 deaths, half of them children.
Mexico's oil giant, Pemex, announced the temporary closure of several oil wells in the southern state of Tabasco, where schools closed their doors and the state governor, Mr Victor Manuel Barcelo, advised residents to abandon affected areas, promising financial aid.
"It's one disaster after another, the harvest is virtually destroyed," said Mr Remigio Santis Lopez in the village of Diez de Abril in Chiapas, where a state of emergency was declared as cornfields lay under a metre of water and thousands of cattle were evacuated to higher ground.
Many areas of the countryside looked as if they had suffered aerial bombardment, as bridges collapsed and landslides destroyed highways, with rivers bursting their banks to complete the picture of desolation.
The Mexican army took control of Tulancingo district in Hidalgo state after a fifth of the region's annual rainfall fell in just 24 hours, leaving residents stranded on rooftops, waiting for emergency services to arrive.
The local health clinic was swallowed up by rising floodwaters, while emergency shelters struggled to cope with hundreds of new arrivals every hour.
Central America was also badly hit by the rains, which caused 100 deaths and left thousands homeless, just as Honduras picked up the pieces from last year's devastating Hurricane Mitch, which caused billions of dollars in damage and left 1 million people homeless, almost a third of the population.
In Oaxaca, southern Mexico, the first batch of federal aid arrived in the wake of last week's earthquake, which damaged 5,000 homes. Steady rain pounded dozens of villages where locals had already abandoned their homes.
"Once more poverty and isolation have been a key factor in understanding that when these tragedies strike, they hit the poor hardest of all," said President Ernesto Zedillo during his second visit to Oaxaca in the past five days.
Army troops operated soup kitchens, while barefoot children had only plastic sheets to protect them from the elements.
"Take good care of yourselves and work hard" was Mr Zedillo's farewell message to locals involved in demolition and reconstruction work, earning $2.50 a day.
"Twenty four days" said one villager in Puebla state, looking at the sky as he counted the days of continuous rainfall.
"Twenty four days," he repeated, wondering aloud whether there could possibly be any more rain left up there.