ACAPULCO - Hurricane Otis ripped through the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco as a Category 4 storm early on Wednesday, battering hotels and sending tourists running for cover as it pummeled the southern Pacific coast with torrential rain and high winds.
Videos posted on social media showed rooms wrecked by the passing of the hurricane, ceilings and walls rent open and cars partly submerged in floodwaters as the southern state of Guerrero awoke to the disarray left in Otis’ wake.
Footage from one hospital on social media showed nurses evacuating patients from their rooms to keep them safe from Otis, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the region.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said there were no immediate reports of fatalities from the storm, but cautioned that authorities were struggling to get updates.
“The hurricane is still affecting the area and communications are completely down,” he told reporters at a regular government press conference.
Otis has weakened into a Category 2 Hurricane but remains over the state of Guerrero and will continue to generate heavy rains in much of the region, mainly in coastal areas, Mexico’s national water agency Conagua said in a statement.
Mexico’s civil protection authorities reported power outages throughout Guerrero, while flights to and from Acapulco were suspended and classes canceled due to Otis, which shook hotels, forcing tourists into refuges.
At around 0600 local time (1200 GMT), Otis was 60 miles (100 km) north-northwest of Acapulco, having weakened rapidly as it moved inland the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
However, it was still packing winds of 110 miles (177 km) per hour, bringing heavy rainfall and flash flooding with hurricane-force winds into wide swaths of southern Mexico.
Otis could bring up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain to parts of Guerrero and Oaxaca states, mudslides, a “potentially catastrophic” storm surge, and life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, authorities said.
Conagua warned of 6- to 8-metre (20- to 26-foot) surf off Guerrero and parts of Oaxaca.
In Guerrero, authorities opened storm shelters, and the National Guard was ready for rescues and evacuations.
The Defense Ministry enacted a disaster plan ahead of the storm’s arrival, Lopez Obrador said late on Tuesday, as soldiers patrolled Acapulco’s emptying beaches. REUTERS
