The most recent torrential rains in east-central Mexico, which have left at least 72 dead and dozens more missing, have raised questions again about the government’s ability to alert people to severe weather in time.

Authorities continue to describe the days of torrential rain last week that set off landslides and river flooding as unpredictable.

"We are are being affected more and more by these phenomena and we can’t go on like this, failing by not knowing what to do and not having these alerts in a timely manner,” said Christian Domínguez, a researcher at the Atmosphere and Climate Change Institute at Mexico’s National Autonomous University.

Domínguez recalled that last year’s crises were drought-related and this year, it’s the rain.

It is a pending issue for Mexico and for countries with more resources and advanced technology like the United States, which experienced a devastating flash flood in Texas this year that killed at least 136 people.

Experts say society and governments appear to be stuck in the past and have not accepted that severe weather is now the norm.

In Mexico’s case, it’s president for the past year, Claudia Sheinbaum, is a trained scientist with a background in climate change.

But while she expressed willingness this week to review prevention protocols, she didn’t mention climate change and insisted it was impossible to predict with precision how much rain was going to fall in some places.

In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, the day before the main rivers in the northern part of the state jumped their banks, torrential rain was forecast to dump nearly 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain.

It ended up being three times that, but the original forecast should have been enough for residents and authorities to get organized, Domínguez said.

In Poza Rica, the hardest-hit city, residents started to flee their homes when the water was already flooding them. Some said authorities warned them too late. Most didn’t think it was going to be so bad.

Over decades, Mexico has developed new ways to alert of seismic activity in central and southern Mexico.

With memories of Hurricane Otis in 2023 still fresh, Sheinbaum said her administration would focus more on prevention involving hurricanes and rains.

On Friday, thousands of soldiers and officials worked to reopen roads cut by landslides and washed out bridges in Veracruz.

But just to the north in neighboring Tamaulipas state, officials watching the Panuco River had already issued clearer warnings Thursday about the chance of flooding when it had risen almost a foot (30 cm).

Sheinbaum said Friday that the area’s mayors had been informed in time and nearly 500 people had already moved into shelters.

AP video shot by: Felix Márquez