2023-10-27 14:28:04
by Online Editorial Staff
Mexico has decreed a state of emergency after the category 5 hurricane that hit the region on Wednesday: 70% of hotels damaged, half the population without electricity, tourists fleeing
Hurricane Otis brought destruction and desperation to the city of Acapulco. The government of Mexico has declared a state of emergency: the storm has caused widespread devastation, flooding main roads, tearing off the roofs of homes and hotels, submerging vehicles and cutting off communications, roads and air links, leaving behind billions of dollars in damages.
After the passage of Otis on Wednesday, and its winds that reached 260 km/h and gusts that exceeded 315 km/h, it grew in a few hours from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, a crescendo that The experts were surprised by the fact that 50% of the population is still without electricity, while water supply and telecommunications services are being restored.
The federal government yesterday provided an initial toll of 27 deaths, but now the director of Social Communication in Acapulco has indicated that 30 bodies have been recovered, buried under the roofs of small houses or walls of collapsed buildings.
Supplies of basic necessities are struggling to reach the city due to difficulties on the main communication routes, and some Mexican media have released videos of looting. Residents rushed to gas stations hoping to find gas to continue working or leave town after Otis’s sudden resurgence off the Pacific coast.
The Mexican Security Minister, Rosa Icela Rodrguez, reported that 70% of hotels of all categories, including ultra-luxury hotels, have been damaged, while tens of thousands of tourists who were staying in the seaside resort are leaving on board trucks made available by the central authorities.
In order to evacuate tourists, an air bridge has also been established between Acapulco and Mexico City, as declared by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, after announcing that the control tower of Acapulco International Airport has been restored.
Two ships are on their way to Acapulco, carrying two water purification plants, a mobile kitchen, four power plants and two motorized pumps, as also stated by the Secretary of the Mexican Navy (Semar). Mexican authorities said Otis was the most powerful cyclone to hit Mexico’s Pacific coast.
October 27, 2023 (modified October 27, 2023 | 2.41pm)
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