Up to 300 houses have been buried by a landslide in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, local officials have said.
Heavy rain overnight saturated a 200m strip of mountainside above the town of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, causing it to slip at about 0400 (0900 GMT).
It is not clear how many people have been affected, but the state governor said 500 to 600 could have been buried.
Rescue teams have been delayed because of the bad weather, which has made several roads in the area impassable.
“There has been lots of rain, rivers have overflowed and we’re having a hard time reaching the area because there are landslides on the roads,” Oaxaca state governor Ulises Ruiz told the Televisa network.
Emergency personnel are being flown from Mexico City to the town, about 80km (50 miles) east of Oaxaca city.
Mr Ruiz said the municipal authorities had told him that the landslide had buried 100 to 300 houses, and speculated that 500 to 600 people could have been asleep inside at the time.
“They’re talking about up to 1,000,” he added.
Situated in the Sierra Juarez mountain range, Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec is famous for its colonial buildings and nearby archaeological sites.
Tropical storms in the western Caribbean have caused high rainfall in the region during the past week.
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