Survivors search for friends and necessities in devastated Acapulco
ACAPULCO, MEXICO>> Survivors of the Pacific hurricane that killed at least 27 people as it devastated Acapulco spent Thursday searching for acquaintances and necessities and hoping that aid arrives quickly in the wake of Hurricane Otis.
Resentment grew in impoverished neighborhoods as residents worried that government attention would goto repairing tourism infrastructure, the city’s economic engine, rather than helping the neediest.
The Mexican government has deployed the military and Flora Contreras Santos, a housewife from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, went from soldier to soldier trying to interest one in the tragedy that occurred on her street at the height of the hurricane Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, Otis took many by surprise when it rapidly strengthened from a tropical storm to a powerful Category 5 hurricane as it tore along the coast.
A hillside collapsed on a family in a tin-roofed home. The force of the mud and water tore a 3-year- old girl away from her mother, and she hadn’t been seen since.
“The mountain came down on them. Themud took her fromthe mother’s arms,” Contreras said. “We need help, the mother is in bad shape and we can’t find the girl.”
Even as army bulldozers began clearing knee- deep mud from Acapulco’s main boulevards, her pleas did not appear tomove any of the soldiers to action.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador went by road Wednesday after the hurricane hit the iconic city on mexico‘s Pacific coast. At least four people remained missing. It was unclear if the girl was counted among them.
The president said Otis had toppled every power-line pole in the zone where it hit onwednesday, leaving much of the city of 1 million without electricity.
Otis turned from mild to monster in record time, and scientists are struggling to figure out how — and why they didn’t see it coming.
“The people sheltered, protected themselves and that’s why fortunately there weren’t more tragedies, loss of human life,” López Obrador said.
Acapulco’s municipal water system was down and some 500,000 homes lost power. López Obrador said that restoring power was a top priority.
Brown floodwaters extended for miles in some areas. Many residents were taking basic items from stores to survive in the wake of the storm. Others left with pricier goods.
The surreal was commonplace Thursday.
Ricardo Díaz, a self-employed laborer, stood Thursday with two fistfuls of live chickens he clutched by their legs.
A chicken company had given himthe chickens, Diaz said. edith Villanueva, holding her daughter, worried about what would happen to Acapulco in the long term.
She worked at a cell phone store that had already been cleaned out.