Children electrocuted as Mexico tropical storm kills four

Four people died, including two children who were electrocuted while riding their bikes, as a tropical storm made landfall in Mexico, authorities said Thursday.

Tropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was downgraded to a tropical depression shortly after hitting eastern Mexico.

However torrential rains, lightning and hail remained a threat, according to a statement from Conagua, the national water agency.

Four people were killed in various incidents in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon, according to civil protection services and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador told journalists two children out riding their bicycles had been electrocuted on Wednesday in the town of Allende, while a teenager was swept away by a river in the state capital Monterrey.

A statement from civil protection services also attributed the death of an adult from electrocution, who was doing repairs at home, to the effects of the storm.

Another nine people were rescued from their homes in the town of Santa Catarina after a dam overflowed, said the statement.