Hurricane Otis tore over Acapulco on Wednesday as a Category 5 hurricane, destroying houses, hotels, and businesses. The storm also brought down electricity lines and communications, cutting off contact for the city’s approximately 900,000 residents.
SOURCE : NBC NEWS
The death toll from the record-breaking storm that devastated the famous beach resort continued to increase on Sunday, prompting the Mexican government to step up efforts to rebuild the devastated coastal city of Acapulco.
With gusts of 165 mph (266 kph),
After Otis’ devastation, which the authorities said on Sunday resulted in 48 deaths and six missing, food, water, and fuel were limited, leading to looting.
Acapulco is situated in the southern state of Guerrero, whose governor had said that 36 persons were missing.
The death toll was 39 killed and 10 missing one day earlier.
As hundreds of troops and police converged on the city, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the majority of his cabinet was either in or on their way to Acapulco and that he would be arriving later on Sunday to oversee recovery work.
In a social media video, he said, “We’re going to get Acapulco back on its feet, starting with its people.”
On Sunday, the bay was littered with dozens of shattered boat parts, and damaged dinghies and yachts were stacked up along the beach.
When Captain Alejandro Cortez, 66, saw the storm gaining strength, he abandoned his vessel.
He related the story while standing on a dock and looking out to sea, recalling waves that were seven meters high. “We ran, we jumped down, and we left the ship all alone.”
I’m sitting here right now for that reason. “That decision was given to me by God,” he said, gesturing aloft. According to him, several coworkers have surfaced alive, but there are still those being looked for.
“A large number of people are still missing,” he said.
Estimates of the damage run as high as $15 billion, and Lopez Obrador said that the finance and economics ministers will be in Acapulco on Monday. He extended an invitation to the governor of the Mexican central bank to visit.
Flood-affected residents have bemoaned the lack of assistance from the authorities. Many are having difficulty obtaining food and water.
Blanca Estela Morales, a 52-year-old wheelchair user residing in a government-run shelter after her house flooded, stated, “I was cleaned out, left with nothing.” “We don’t have enough water to wash with, and we sleep on the floor, so this is really difficult for me.”
Political repercussions
López Obrador said this past weekend that his detractors were undermining his reaction to Otis and exaggerating the catastrophe’s damage in order to gain political advantage. The tragedy rocked Acapulco only seven months before Mexico’s next presidential election.
Even as families frantically looked for missing relatives and additional drowning fatalities were retrieved from Acapulco’s harbor, Lopez Obrador’s venomous political barbs sparked allegations that he was downplaying the severity of the crisis.
Lopez Obrador’s longtime rival, former president Felipe Calderón, said that his administration was attempting to take advantage of the crisis by “rebranding” boxes of private humanitarian contributions to Acapulco as “government” offerings.
Reuters was unable to confirm the markings on boxes containing these contributions right away. Calderón was “lying,” according to presidential spokesperson Jesus Ramirez, who also said that certain politicians and media organizations were attempting to profit from the catastrophe.
with order to maintain law and order and assist with the distribution of tons of food and supplies in Acapulco, the largest city in Guerrero, Mexico has sent some 17,000 military personnel.
The government reported in an update on Sunday that Otis destroyed 273,844 dwellings in Guerrero, more than the 223,924 units registered in Acapulco in 2020, along with 600 hotels and condos. Cleanup activities are expected to take some time.
The ministry said that one town is still blocked off because of a river that is overflowing.
Evelyn Salgado, the governor of Guerrero, said that authorities had visited 10,000 people in the region to evaluate damage and that 58% of Acapulco now had power.
By Tuesday, López Obrador said that the city’s energy will be entirely restored.
After López Obrador questioned him about the state of attempts to deter looting, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that 5,000 members of the National Guard would be deployed to security and that the armed forces were seizing charge of petrol stations.
Sandoval said, “Taking the gas stations was extremely important.” “Because a tragedy even worse could occur.”
