At least 27 people died when Category Five Hurricane Otis slammed into the Pacific coastline near Acapulco on Wednesday, October 25, wreaking massive damages on the popular beach resort.
Many residents and tourists were caught unawares, as within just a few hours Otis intensified from a tropical storm to a Category Five hurricane. Weather networks said Otis was the strongest storm ever to make landfall on this stretch of coastline, and set a record for the quickest time of intensification into a deadly hurricane.
Images circulating on social media after the storm showed extensive damage to infrastructure throughout the resort, with nearly all the hotels and apartment buildings with shattered windows and substantial damage. More than 80 percent of hotels in the resort suffered damages, the Guerrero state governor reported. One tourist told the BBC that it “felt like an earthquake” when the storm hit.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador visited Acapulco on Wednesday, promising a massive input of federal resources and personnel to initiate the resort’s recovery and restore services.
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