MONTERREY, Mexico — At least 27 people were killed as Hurricane Otis crashed near Acapulco, a system that rapidly intensified into the most powerful cyclone on record to have hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at least four people were also still missing in Acapulco after the unexpectedly intense storm slammed ashore. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said officials would be going door to door at homes and businesses on Thursday to assess damage.
“We were prepared, however it was something exceptional and unexpected,” López Obrador said Thursday about the hurricane’s strength and landfall. “We thought it was going to enter through Acapulco or in Tepa, in that coastal fringe, but it hit more in Acapulco.”
López Obrador said around 10,000 elements of the armed forces, National Guard, and navy were deployed to Acapulco.
The Category 5 hurricane had severed electrical service, which was slow to return as federal, state and local authorities worked to restore connectivity. Hospitals were flooded, and Rodriguez said the Acapulco airport remains closed. More than 540,000 people in the city had lost power after the storm came through. One major highway that connects Acapulco with Mexico City had reopened. Guerrero Gov. Evelyn Salgado said 80 percent of Acapulco’s hotels were damaged by Otis, citing the Acapulco Hotel Association.