Experts are calling Otis the strongest storm in history to make landfall along the Eastern Pacific Coast.
A tourist rides a horse at a beach in Acapulco, Mexico on Tuesday. Hurricane Otis strengthened from tropical storm to a major hurricane in a matter of hours.ACAPULCO, Mexico — Hurricane Otis tore across Mexico’s southern Pacific coast as a powerful and dangerous Category 5 hurricane Wednesday, unleashing massive flooding in the resort city of Acapulco, sending sheets of earth down steep mountainsides, and cutting power and cell service in large swaths of the state of Guerrero.
Acapulco’s Diamond Zone, an oceanfront area replete with hotels, restaurants and other tourist attractions, looked to be mostly underwater in drone footage that Foro TV posted online Wednesday afternoon, with boulevards and bridges completely hidden by an enormous lake of brown water.Large buildings had their walls and roofs partially or completely ripped off. Dislodged solar panels, cars and debris littered the lobby of one severely damaged hotel.
They told her the worst part of the storm was between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. when “windows began to fall, floors broke up, mattresses flew, hallways collapsed, doors fell down ... until everything was gone,” she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Fortunately, they escaped unhurt, she said.
The domestic worker from a small town in Guerrero was among dozens of families, women and children who clambered over tree trunks and other debris left by landslides in the mountainous terrain. It was a daunting escape, but people were desperate to get out. “It’s one thing to have a Category 5 hurricane make landfall somewhere when you’re expecting it or expecting a strong hurricane, but to have it happen when you’re not expecting anything to happen is truly a nightmare,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
Between the internationally known resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo are two dozen small towns and villages.
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Hurricane Otis makes landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, as catastrophic Category 5 stormHurricane Otis slammed into Mexico’s southern Pacific coast as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane early Wednesday, bringing 165 mph (170 kmh) winds and heavy…
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