ACAPULCO, Mexico — After ripping by means of Mexico’s southern Pacific coast early Wednesday, Hurricane Otis weakened from a Category 5 hurricane to a robust Category 2 storm, dousing the steep mountains of the state of Guerrero and leaving a path of injury in its predominant metropolis, Acapulco.
As daybreak broke over Acapulco, images and video shared by native media present the partitions of buildings ripped off, flooded lodge rooms with collapsed ceilings, and rubble and downed bushes lining the streets. Persistent rain and flooding made it troublesome to maneuver.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported in a morning press briefing on Wednesday that in Guerrero the areas of Costa Grande, Acapulco and Técpan had been all “hit hard” by Otis. He reported that the storm brought about property injury, landslides and obstructed roads, however mentioned he had no data up to now on if Otis had claimed any lives.
Read: Hurricane Otis now a catastrophic Category 5 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast nearing Acapulco
Communications with the world have been “completely lost,” López Obrador mentioned.
The president added that damages to the native army airport has made it onerous for authorities to access the area, and mentioned high-ranking members of his authorities would journey to Guerrero to go up operations.
Otis was about 60 miles north-northwest of Acapulco with its most sustained winds reducing to 110 mph and transferring at 10 mph. The storm’s heart is predicted to maneuver farther inland over southern Mexico by means of Wednesday night time.
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The 5 to 10 inches of rain forecast, with as a lot as 15 inches doable in some areas, continued to boost the specter of landslides and floods on Wednesday.
An extended convoy of vehicles from the nationwide electrical firm moved by means of the Guerrero state capital, Chilpancingo, earlier than daybreak Wednesday towards Acapulco.
Otis had strengthened quickly, going from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in 12 hours Tuesday. Residents of Guerrero’s coast scrambled to organize, however the storm’s sudden depth appeared to catch many off guard.
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“We’re on maximum alert,” Acapulco Mayor Abelina López mentioned Tuesday night time as she urged residents to hunker down at home or transfer to the town’s shelters.
Videos from lodge company in Acapulco posted to X, previously referred to as Twitter, because the storm got here ashore confirmed blinding horizontal rain and howling winds.
In one, white towels danced excessive above a lodge’s cavernous courtyard like sheets of paper and mattress mattresses trembled on balconies, apparently an effort to blunt the storm’s winds. Another confirmed wind and rain howling unimpeded down lodge hallways. While in nonetheless one other, a household huddled inside a lodge room bathe to flee breaking home windows and fierce wind.
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Otis is stronger than Hurricane Pauline that hit Acapulco in 1997, López mentioned. Pauline destroyed swaths of the town and killed greater than 200 folks. Hundreds of others had been injured in flooding and mudslides.
Between the internationally identified resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo are two dozen small cities and villages perched between the mountains and the ocean.
Otis’ arrival got here simply days after Hurricane Norma struck the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula to the north.
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Acapulco is a metropolis of practically 1 million folks on the foot of steep mountains. Luxury properties and slums alike cowl the town’s hillsides with views of the glistening Pacific. The metropolis had opened two dozen shelters within the hours earlier than Otis made landfall.
Guerrero is one in every of Mexico’s most impoverished and violent states. Just Monday, a neighborhood police chief and 12 cops had been massacred and located on a freeway in El Papayo, which is within the Guerrero township of Coyuca de Benitez not removed from Otis’ influence zone.
In the Atlantic, Hurricane Tammy continued transferring northeastward over open water with winds of 100 mph after sweeping by means of the Lesser Antilles over the weekend. Tammy was situated about 540 miles south-southeast of Bermuda. The storm was anticipated to develop into a strong extratropical cyclone by Thursday, in accordance with the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
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AP writers Mark Stevenson in Chilpancingo, Mexico and María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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