Agence France-Presse
Hurricane “Otis” killed at least 27 people when it lashed the beach resort town of Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific coast as a scale-topping category 5 storm, officials said Thursday.
The hurricane crashed into Acapulco Tuesday night into Wednesday with furious 165 mph (270 kph) winds, cutting off communications with the city and delaying updates on fatalities and damage.
“Unfortunately, we received word from the state and city governments that 27 people are dead and four are missing,” Secretary of State for Security Rosa Icela Rodriguez told a news conference in Mexico City.
She said communications with Acapulco were being gradually restored.
The main road connecting it with the capital has reopened but only in one direction, Rodriguez said.
Many people in Acapulco, which has a population of 780,000, were still without electricity Thursday because the storm knocked out dozens of electrical pylons.
“Acapulco is a total disaster. It is not what it was before. The park was totally destroyed, the buildings, all the streets,” 24-year-old resident Eric Hernandez said Wednesday.
