Acapulco was still cut off from the rest of Mexico on Wednesday morning after powerful Hurricane Otis caused severe damage to the famous Pacific sea resort and its region.
• Also read: Hurricane Otis weakens after making landfall near Acapulco, Mexico
“So far we have no information about the loss of life, but there is no communication,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during his daily news conference.
The president mentioned “material damage” and recalled “collapses” along the highway to Acapulco. He assured that the government is trying to restore communications.
“The most important thing is to take care of the affected populations. “We still don’t have any estimates of the damage because there is no communication,” national civil protection coordinator Laura Velazquez told Milenio television.
Videos on social networks show the first property damage.
According to these videos, businesses were affected and tourists in hotels placed beds and mattresses to protect their rooms.
The hurricane, a force 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, made landfall on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday with wind speeds of over 250 km/h.
AFP
As expected, it weakened to Category 1 as it moved inland northwest of Acapulco.
The government sent the ministers of defence, navy, security and communications to the scene. You travel by road as it is not possible to travel by plane.
“Take shelter, stay in safe places: far away from rivers, streams, ravines and be vigilant,” the president warned on Tuesday evening on X (ex-Twitter).
At dawn on Wednesday, a large part of Acapulco – which has nearly 780,000 residents – was without power after a precautionary blackout, according to local media.
The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE, public) said it restored power to 40% of the 504,000 affected users in the Acapulco region on Wednesday.
“I ask you not to let up,” Governor Evelyn Salgado urged residents of the state of Guerrero (southwest) on Wednesday morning.
AFP
In Acapulco, residents barricaded themselves in their homes after stockpiling food and water.
Hotels are 50% full and local authorities have prepared accommodation in hostels while soldiers patrol the beach.
By order of the Guerrero state government, schools were closed.
The cyclone gained strength off the Pacific coast within a few hours.
Paulina, Norma, Patricia, Ingrid…
On October 9, 1997, the seaside resort of Acapulco was struck by Paulina, killing more than 200 people and causing, along with an earthquake, one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
Last week, Hurricane Norma killed three people a little further north in Sinaloa state. Norma made landfall twice, first on the Baja California peninsula, then in the state of Sinaloa.
Located between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico is subject to hurricanes during the May-October-November season. A dozen depressions a year can turn into more or less devastating hurricanes.
However, the strongest wind ever recorded, Patricia, in October 2015 with wind speeds of 325 km/h, only caused material damage as it entered the area through an uninhabited mountain area.
In September 2013, Hurricane Ingrid in the Gulf and Tropical Storm Manuel in the Pacific hit Mexico at the same time.
As the sea surface warms, the frequency of the most violent cyclones (or hurricanes or typhoons, depending on the region) increases, but not their total number.
According to the International Group of Climate Experts (IPCC), the proportion of particularly intense cyclones (category 4 and 5) is likely to increase by 30% compared to pre-industrial times with warming of +1.5°C.
In particular, they pose an ever-increasing risk to coastal communities that fall victim to wave inundation phenomena (also called marine flooding), which are amplified by sea level rise and lead to flooding and salt pollution of land and water. “pure water.”
Due to rising sea levels and ocean flooding, more than a billion people will live in vulnerable coastal cities by 2050, according to the IPCC.