(Acapulco) At least 16 people were killed during this week’s hurricane John on the Pacific coasts in southern Mexico, among others in Acapulco and its surroundings, the president and local civil protection said on Sunday.
“Unfortunately, the number of deaths, according to local authorities, is 15 people,” said outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, sharing on X “the latest civil protection report on the floods in Acapulco.”
Another victim was confirmed on Sunday by civil protection in the neighboring state of Michoacán, further north.
The seafront of Acapulco, the tourist capital of the elites at the time of its splendor, had already been destroyed a year ago by the hurricane Otis of maximum force 5 on October 25, 2023.
PHOTO BERNARDINO HERNANDEZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Residents and National Guardsmen walk through flooded street after hurricane John in Acapulco, Mexico on September 28, 2024.
“Acapulco is underwater,” Mayor Abelina Lopez Rodriguez lamented on Friday.
The hurricane John made landfall on Tuesday as a force 3 hurricane, causing heavy rains in the three states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán, which receive many tourists.
In Acapulco he awakened the trauma of the hurricane among the 800,000 inhabitants Otis.
“There are thousands of people in shelters,” continued the President of the Republic. “There is no looting.”
PHOTO ALFREDO ESTRELLA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, outgoing president of Mexico
“The water is going down, even if there is a lot of mud in the streets where the cleaning has started,” detailed the head of state who will leave power on Tuesday.
The first phase of humanitarian relief from the Army, Navy and National Guard is nearing completion.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, outgoing president of Mexico
The new president Claudia Sheinbaum, who will be inaugurated on Tuesday, will travel with her cabinet to the state of Guerrero where Acapulco is located on Wednesday “to make an assessment” and continue to organize “all the necessary assistance”, she said. she indicated on her X account on Sunday.
On Sunday, the Mexican media put forward an even heavier toll. “Twenty-two dead in the impact of the hurricane John in Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán,” indicates the website of N+, Televisa’s news channel.