At least 13 people were killed yesterday by mudslides unleashed in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz by Fernand, a tropical storm that has since weakened to a tropical depression, officials said.

“Thirteen dead is the official figure, all of them by landslides caused by rains from Fernand,” a spokesman for the civil protection agency said.

The victims were from three municipalities in central Veracruz, where Fernand came ashore early yesterday from the Gulf of Mexico.

Heavy rains and high winds led to flooding and damage to more than 100 houses, forcing some 300 people to flee to higher ground, officials said.

As of 1500 GMT, weather forecasters were reporting winds of 55 kilometres per hour.

The US National Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to dump four to eight inches of rain on Veracruz.

Fernand is the fifth named storm this year in the Atlantic, where the hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a more than usually violent season of 13 to 19 named storms including six to nine hurricanes.

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