5-year-old girl killed, 10 missing as rains unleash flooding in Tijuana

Tijuana floods leave 10 missing; at least 1 dead

TIJUANA, Mexico — Rains have unleashed heavy flooding in parts of the Mexican border city of Tijuana, killing a 5-year-old girl and leaving at least 10 other people missing, officials said Thursday.

Storms also caused a plane to skid off the runway Thursday in the Tijuana International Airport. Nobody was hurt.

Four days of storms have swelled the Rio Tijuana, which reaches the United States, sending torrents of water into some neighborhoods of the city across the border from San Diego.

A flash flood swept away a car with a pregnant woman and her three children inside in the hilly Canon de los Laureles neighborhood Wednesday night, the Baja California state prosecutors’ office said in a statement. Police later found the car with the woman, unharmed, and her 5-year-old daughter dead. The two other children, 7 and 2, are missing.

Tijuana fire chief Rafael Carroll said the children are among 10 people missing and feared swept away by floods.

At the airport, an Aeromexico flight originating in the northeastern city of Monterrey struggled to land and then skidded off the runway, its left wing ending up buried in the mud, said Baja California State Gov. Jose Guadalupe Osuna.

One passenger, Clara Martinez Gutierrez, said the plane circled the airport several times before trying to land. She said the plane jumped upon landing and passengers were told to get into emergency positions.

“The pilot controlled the plane well, but in the end the left wing ended up buried in the mud,” she said.

Meanwhile, an American citizen drowned Thursday morning when a huge wave swept him out to sea as he fished by the shore in the Migrino area of the southern part of the Baja California Peninsula, said local fire chief Gabriel Garcia Tinoco. The Mexican navy found the body of the California man at sea.

The area where the man drowned is known for rough seas, and his death appeared unrelated to the storms affecting the northern part of the peninsula.