MEXICO CITY, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Mexico has evacuated 2,000 more people from their homes in the eastern coastal states of Tabasco and Veracruz hit by heavy rains over the last week, the Defense Ministry said Friday.

    The additional evacuation came after the Tabasco state government evacuated over 7,000 people to 22 state-run hostels.

    The Interior Ministry has declared a state of emergency and the state-run National Meteorology Service is warning that Tropical Depression Ida, currently off the Central American coast, may strengthen and hit the southern state of Yucatan as a tropical storm.

    The Mexican army gave a helping hand in the evacuation. Some 455 soldiers had been deployed to Tabasco and Veracruz where they had distributed 24,087 food packages and 2,200 liters of drinking water, the army said.

    In Tabasco, around 26,400 people's homes or other properties were damaged after the Atlantic cold front No. 9 dumped 150 millimeters of rain on the municipalities of Cardenas, Huimanguillo and Chontalpa.

    Earlier, the meteorology service warned of possible heavy storms in six of the Mexico's 32 states due to cold front No. 9, which is moving across the country.