Mexico’s security secretary says Hurricane Otis was responsible for at least 27 deaths and four people remain missing.
Rosa Icela Rodriguez’s comments on Thursday at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s morning news briefing were echoed minutes later by Guerrero state governor Evelyn Salgado.
No details were provided about the victims or where the deaths occurred.
Otis roared ashore in Acapulco early on Wednesday, unleashing massive floods. The resort city of nearly one million descended into chaos. There was looting and residents left without electricity or internet service.
The president acknowledged the government was late in arriving due to the havoc Otis left behind.
The early images and accounts were of extensive devastation, toppled trees and power lines lying in brown floodwaters that in some areas extended for miles. The resulting destruction delayed a comprehensive response by the government, which was still assessing the damage along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The Category 5 storm blew out hundreds of windows of beachfront hotels.
While some 10,000 military troops were deployed to the area, they lacked the tools to clean tons of mud and fallen trees from the streets. Hundreds of trucks from the government electricity company arrived in Acapulco early on Wednesday, but seemed at a loss as to how to restore power, with downed electricity lines lying in feet of mud and water.
Jakob Sauczuk was staying with a group of friends at a beachfront hotel when Otis hit. “We laid down on the floor, and some between beds,” Sauczuk said. “We prayed a lot.”
Acapulco’s commercial and military airports were still too badly damaged to resume flights.
