MEXICO CITY – Around 32,500 people have been affected by recent heavy rains and flooding in the southeastern states of Tabasco and Veracruz, local authorities said.

The torrential downpours caused rivers and lakes to overflow in Tabasco, damaging the homes of some 30,000 people in the towns of Cardenas and Huimanguillo and flooding 76 rural communities, Gov. Andres Granier told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Interior Secretariat declared a state of emergency Tuesday in those two municipalities “due to severe rains on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1,” enabling them to tap into the Natural Disaster Fund.

With that money, local authorities “will have funds to attend to the food, shelter and health needs of the affected population,” the department said in a statement.

Some 13,000 people were affected in Huimanguillo and three bridges were damaged, Mayor Oscar Ferrer said.

In addition, the railway that links the states of Tabasco and Veracruz was cut off at a spot some 75 kilometers (46 miles) from Villahermosa, Tabasco’s capital, due to a mudslide.

According to official figures, some 4,000 people thus far have been placed in shelters in Tabasco, while army soldiers are patrolling the streets in the affected towns to prevent looting.

Massive flooding in late October and early November 2007 left the vast majority of that state under water and affected hundreds of thousands of people.

Meanwhile, local authorities in the neighboring state of Veracruz said 750 homes were flooded in the towns of Agua Dulce and Las Choapas, near the border with Tabasco, and about 100 people were being housed temporarily in shelters.

The Aguadulcita River overflowed in Agua Dulce, while rains in Las Choapas affected four rural communities.

According to the Veracruz state government, a total of 2,500 people have been affected by the flooding in that state. EFE