Monday, July 7, 2025

Tropical Storm Dalila swipes Guerrero, damaging infrastructure and beachside businesses

Tropical Storm Dalila knocked out a bridge, damaged Acapulco’s beaches and caused power outages in the state of Guerrero as it swept past southwestern Mexico over the weekend. 

Dalila formed in the Pacific on Friday and then moved parallel to the Mexican coast, dumping between 75 and 150 millimeters of rain on states from Chiapas to Nayarit. 

people walking on beach
With boat traffic suspended on Saturday due to the storm-tossed waters, authorities told Acapulco residents and visitors to exercise caution. Not everybody heeded the warning. (Carlos Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)

Though the storm never approached hurricane status, it was followed closely by tropical wave No. 3, with the western state of Guerrero receiving the brunt of the meteorological phenomenon. Some areas along the coast — still recovering from Hurricanes Otis (October 2023) and John (September 2024) — received 15 hours of rain accompanied by high winds, while waves as high as five meters pounded the shoreline.

The Omitlán bridge that connects central Guerrero with the Costa Chica region collapsed as flooding inundated several coastal cities. Costa Chica refers to an area of rolling hills and coastal plains along the south coast of Guerrero, extending from just south of Acapulco to the Oaxaca border.

Roofs were blown off houses and trees were felled in the municipalities of Coyuca de Catalán, Ciudad Altamirano and Ajuchitlán in the mountains above Acapulco. Residents were forced to take refuge in shelters, while some towns were cut off as heavy rains made fords impassable. 

The small town of Cerro Prieto de Atoyac, to the northeast of Acapulco, was particularly hard hit, its residents without electricity the entire weekend.

At least five beachside restaurants in Acapulco were damaged and the Acapulco-Pinapotepa coastal highway was shut down for hours on Sunday. At least 50 residences were destroyed in the Diamante district of Acapulco, which is known for a wide array of high-end condominiums and modern hotels and resorts.

Roads in the coastal mountain areas were washed out in the Montaña, Costa Chica and Sierra regions of Guerrero. 

By Sunday night, the rains had subsided in Guerrero and Dalila had been declared a post-tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), although local officials warned that high waves and storm surges were still a threat.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, the NHC said Dalila was expected to turn toward the west, away from the Mexican coast, and continue westward another day or two. Maximum sustained winds had decreased to 35 mph and the storm was forecast to dissipate by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

With reports from Milenio, Proceso, Vanguardia, Excelsior and The New York Times 

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