Mexico’s Pacific Coast Has Been Hit By Its Worst Ever Hurricane, Leaving Dozens Dead And Missing
Authorities said no hurricanes even close to Otis’ intensity have ever been recorded on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
A hurricane has devastated Mexico’s famous tourist destination of Acapulco, leaving dozens dead and missing.
Hurricane Otis made landfall on Wednesday Oct. 25. with wind speed reaching up to 266 kilometers per hour.
Otis approached Mexico’s Pacific coast, quickly intensifying from a category 1 to a category 5 storm, the strongest storm category, in only 12 hours.
The rapid development into a category 5 storm left many residents, tourists and authorities unprepared for the devastating consequences, according to BBC.
“There are no hurricanes on record even close to this intensity for this part of Mexico,” the National Hurricane Center stated in a statement on Tuesday, a night before the hurricane made landfall.
Strong winds tore apart buildings, uprooted trees, and disrupted communications.
Around 200,000 houses were left without power and 80% of Acapulco’s hotels were damaged, according to the local government.
“We don’t have water, we are left with nothing, the house is full of mud, everything is damaged,” one woman told Reuters.
As of Nov. 1, 46 people were reported dead and 58 missing, according to Mexico’s Guerrero state, Evelyn Salgado Pineda
On Thursday, the government mobilized military personnel to deliver food an water supplies, but residents have said the aid isn’t enough.
“There were acts of looting in some places because there was an emergency,” Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reported.
“They loot because they want to eat. Not a single store is open to buy food, not a single tortillería,” a local resident told New York Times.
Acapulco is one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, receiving 4.6 million tourists in 2022.
