Mexico's worst ever rainy season to intensify

MEXICO CITY, Sept 11AFP - Mexico said Thursday it is experiencing its worst rainy season on record and the rains are set to intensify, as the latest storms left 10 people dead and affected almost one million people.

"We're facing the most intense rainy season recorded in our beloved Mexico," President Felipe Calderon said during a visit to northern areas affected by Hurricane Alex, which in July caused 22 deaths and left some 40,000 homeless.

Calderon earlier visited flood-hit eastern areas drenched by rains that also pounded the south and center regions in the past week, affecting more than 900,000 people, according to local officials.Rain between January and August this year has been almost double the historical average and September will be "one of the rainiest in many years," Calderon said.Following Alex, Hurricane Frank left four dead and two missing as it traveled up Mexico's Pacific coast in August.

"The worst is still to come," Governor Andres Granier Melo of central Tobasco state warned on Wednesday, noting that the real beginning of the traditional rainy season was September, lasting until November.