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Wednesday's storm on the western side of Mexico City and the one from yesterday in the north unveil, once again, the capital's fragility to face intense rains . The storm caused serious damage to some important roads of the city and the subway, which took almost 24 hours to resolve.
In the municipality of Naucalpan , adjacent to the Azcapotzalco and Miguel Hidalgo boroughs, houses were damaged due to the overflow of the Hondo River . The authorities of the municipality blame the government of the capital for pumping water to the river despite the fact they asked not to do so because the river was at its maximum capacity. The authorities of Mexico City deny that statement.
The confrontation makes clear the necessity of adding floods, rainwater collectors, and water discharge to the list of problems which require coordinated actions between the authorities of the State of Mexico and the capital.
The area where 20 million people live has been aptly named Megalopolis . It is an area which faces common problems like mobility, pollution, garbage, infrastructure and, currently, raining .
Rather than each local government saying who is to blame, the population needs solutions to the aforementioned problems from a general perspective , without politicizing the situation.
The coexistence of millions of persons in a small space is not easy. While there exist disagreement and lack of understandings , the inhabitants are the ones who will suffer the consequences and coexistence will be more complicated.
The city has faced periodic floods for centuries. Public works to contain floods are built slowly and when they are finished they become obsolete shortly. Simple preventive measures such as unclogging sewers can be really effective.
What could represent something serious is the authorities' short memory. Today's problem will be replaced by tomorrow's and the first will be forgotten without reaching a solution. Governments can forget problems, but at least something must be clear: the rainy season has barely begun .
mr
