Cold front forces Mexico to seal roads in northern, western states

Mexico has sealed roads in the states of Zacatecas and Jalisco due to freezing weather, authorities said on Friday.

Eight municipalities in the northern state of Zacatecas have been sealed off, and public transport has been suspended across the territory, said Juan Antonio Caldera Martinez, director of public security and transit in Zacatecas.

In Jalisco, a western state on the Pacific coast, authorities have sealed two municipalities in the mountainous Sierra Madre area, including communities with relatively poor housing, according to officials from a weather research center of the University of Guadalajara.

The state-run National Meteorology Service (SMN) has forecast that temperatures would be as low as minus 8 degrees Celsius in the northern states of Durango and Chihuahua.

Freezing weather has killed at least 22 people across the nation since last week, including deaths caused by hypothermia and gas poisoning.

According to the SMN, the inclement weather was caused by the polar air of cold front number 22, which crossed into Mexico from neighboring United States late Thursday.

Source: Xinhua