of cocoa in the country and a major source of bananas, but is not expected that losses affect international prices, experts said on Friday. Tabasco produces 80% of all Mexico's cocoa and 40% of its bananas, according to Luis Rey Carrasco Linares, an expert from the Autonomous University of Chapingo with his squad in Tabasco. The heavy rains that punished the state for more than a week occurred during the cocoa harvest, which lasts from September to December, Carrasco said. All this year's harvest is under water and was lost, he added. The floods caused profound devastation to agriculture, which is a Principal source of Income in the state. The loss will have its greatest impact for the more than 30,000 families who earn their living in the production of cocoa, Carrasco said, adding that before the flood, farmers were grappling with a plague of fungus. "The situation is extraordinarily serious: This is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the country" said President Felipe Calderón in a televised address on the night of 1 November 2007. The Tabasco flood caused the loss of thousands of books from the Villahermosa central library and 78 other libraries from five different municipalities. The Grijalva River affected the infrastructure and works of the José María Pino Suárez State Library where the entire vault has much water. The water also flooded the auditorium causing widespread damage to furniture and equipment, rising to the second floor and damaging 15,000 books from the general collection. Chronology 23 October 2007: An accident that occurred amid storm conditions in the Bay of Campeche necessitates the evacuation of a Pemex oil exploration platform. In the rescue operation, 23 workers' lives are lost and, days later, a major oil slick arrives on the coast of Campeche and Tabasco. Heavy rain continues to fall over the southern Gulf Coast for the remainder of the week. 30 October 2007: In the afternoon of 30 October, the Río Grijalva and some of its affluents begin to break their banks. Flooding alerts are broadcast over local TV and radio for the municipalities of Centro, Cunduacán, Jalapa, Jalpa de Méndez, Nacajuca and Tacotalpa. Evacuations of towns at greatest risk begins. The federal Secretariat of the Interior issues a declaration of emergency for the entire state. 31 October 2007: Tabasco Governor Andrés Granier announces that 70% of the state is under water and