The number of people killed on Wednesday by the hurricane that devastated Acapulco, in southwestern Mexico, has been increased from 27 to 39, the government said.
Ten people are missing, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said, while four were reported missing in the previous report.
Authorities are still working to identify the 39 fatalities – 29 men and 10 women – the same source said.
Three days after the passage of Hurricane Otis, which reached a maximum strength of 5, help is slowly starting to arrive in Mexico’s famous seaside resort, which is still partly without electricity, telephone networks and fuel.
According to authorities, around 10,000 members of the security forces were mobilized after supermarkets were looted.
The army and navy have “established an airlift” to “accelerate the distribution of humanitarian aid,” the government said in a statement today.
This airlift is also used to transport patients requiring specialized medical attention from Acapulco to Mexico City.
A new “tropical depression” is forming in the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico, off the coast of Chiapas and Guatemala, authorities said.
Weather conditions are ripe for the “development of a tropical depression” early next week, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, which is responsible for forecasts and warnings for the area.
Hurricane Otis, which devastated Acapulco with winds of 170 miles per hour and heavy rain, formed very quickly, within hours, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.
“Unfortunately, Otis was able to take advantage of very favorable conditions, such as the warmth of deep waters in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Mexico, and a favorable atmospheric environment,” NHC director Michael Brennan told AFP.
In 1997, Paulina, a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 5, also struck the Acapulco region, Guerrero state, killing more than 200 people.
Source: DN
