Mexico Storm Kills 24, Dozens Injured, Thousands Homeless


Mexico has been battered by heavy rain, landslides, and floods on its Pacific and eastern coasts that officials confirm have killed at least 21 people. There are some reports that the death toll is actually 24, but this number is not yet confirmed.

Thousands of people were evacuated as storms Ingrid and Manuel sandwiched Mexico between the Pacific and Gulf coasts. They caused rivers to overflow, streets to become flooded, and damaged many bridges.

This was an “atypical and unusual” situation for Mexico, as it has never been hit by a hurricane 24 hours after a tropical storm made landfall, according to National Weather Service coordinator Juan Manuel Caballero.

State-run energy firm Pemex evacuated three oil platforms off the Gulf coast of the northeastern state of Tamaulipas and shut down 24 wells.The international airport and the seaport were closed, and the highway linking Mexico City to Acapulco shut down due to landslides and flooding.

Some 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the state of Guerrero while over 20,000 households lost power.

At least 11 of the 21 confirmed deaths were in the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Five people died when a wall collapsed. A landslide killed six members of the same family when it crushed their home. Another landslide killed a woman elsewhere in Guerrero while a man and a child died in a landslide in the state capital.

In Acapulco, the water rose as high as three feet (one meter) in some neighborhoods; even cars were swept away. Other storm related deaths occurred in the states of Hidalgo, Oaxaca, and Puebla.

The hurricane has already forced 6,000 people to evacuate their homes in the east coast state of Veracruz after two rivers overflowed their banks.

The US National Hurricane Center said the Mexico storm was moving west-northwestward at six miles per hour. The forecasters also said they expected Ingrid to trigger a storm surge of as much as four feet, with “large and destructive waves”.

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