Hurricane John, which made landfall in Mexico twice last week, claimed 29 lives in three Pacific coast states, including more than 20 in Guerrero, according to news reports.
The EFE news agency and other media outlets reported that the death toll from John rose to 29 on Sunday after authorities confirmed four additional hurricane-related fatalities in Guerrero.
The hurricane made landfall for the first time last Monday as a powerful Category 3 storm, slamming into the coast of southern Guerrero near the state’s border with Oaxaca.
After weakening and drifting offshore, John regained strength in the Pacific Ocean before making landfall for a second time last Friday as a tropical storm on the coast of the neighboring state of Michoacán.
According to reports, 23 of the 29 fatalities linked to Hurricane John occurred in Guerrero. Five deaths reportedly occurred in Oaxaca — where at least 80 landslides were reported — and one fatality was reported in Michoacán.
Some of the victims were killed in mudslides while others were swept away by raging floodwaters. The storm also caused significant damage to homes, commercial establishments and other structures, including bridges.
Powerful winds and the accompanying storm surge, as well as sinkholes caused by torrential rain, caused some buildings to collapse, including at least 13 restaurants in Acapulco, according to EFE.
The BBC reported that some places affected by John, described as a “zombie storm” because it returned to hurricane strength after initially dissipating, have “had almost a year’s worth of rainfall over a matter of days.”
On Sunday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador provided an update on the situation in Acapulco, a city that still hasn’t fully recovered from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Otis, which made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane in October 2023.
Citing the latest report of Civil Protection authorities, López Obrador said that floodwaters were receding but noted that there is “a lot of mud in the streets.”
Authorities have begun cleanup efforts, electricity services have been reestablished and evacuations have been completed, the president said.
“There are 1,000 people in shelters; they are guaranteed three hot meals a day and health services, and are given groceries and water,” he wrote.
“There is no looting,” López Obrador said, highlighting that the security situation in Acapulco has not significantly deteriorated, as occurred after Hurricane Otis.
“Unfortunately, the number of deceased people, according to the state Attorney General’s Office, is 15,” López Obrador said, apparently referring to hurricane-related fatalities in Acapulco.
He also said that “the first phase” of “humanitarian rescue” efforts carried out by the army, navy and National Guard were almost complete. López Obrador added that a “house by house” census would be carried out to assess damage and provide “direct support” to victims.
Boats are the only mode of transport — or evacuation — for some acapulqueños
With some neighborhoods in Acapulco completely under water, many acapulqueños, as residents of the city are known, have had to rely on boats to get to and leave their homes.
The Zona Diamante district, where numerous resorts and luxury condominiums are located, is one of the worst affected areas.
Among those who have had to use the services of lancheros (boatmen) are hundreds of residents of the Vicente Guerrero 2000 residential complex, located near an overflowing lagoon in Acapulco.
“What we want the most is for the rain to stop,” Cyndi Viridiana Gómez told the newspaper El Universal while on her way home — by boat — from a shopping center.
“When it stops raining, the water will go down and we’ll be able to clean up and see what [still] works and what we’ll have to throw out,” she said, referring to furniture and domestic appliances.
El día de hoy, con #FuerzaOperativaGuerrero en marcha, hemos desplegado 33 motos acuáticas, 3 lanchas y un catamarán, logrando rescatar a cerca de mil 123 personas en Acapulco.
Tenemos un gran compromiso con ustedes, no vamos a parar hasta llegar y apoyar a las familias… pic.twitter.com/drmzuvddoe
— Evelyn Salgado Pineda (@EvelynSalgadoP) September 28, 2024
Armando Vázquez, another resident of the Vicente Guerrero 2000 complex, told El Universal that his home was flooded with “almost two meters” of water.
“We left by boat,” said Vázquez, who acknowledged it would take some time for the floodwaters to recede.
Some acapulqueños were forced to climb onto the roofs of their homes to take refuge from rising waters. Over 5,000 people had to be evacuated, authorities said.
One Acapulco resident, Bárbara Encinas, told the AFP news agency that the situation was “critical” and that she and other locals were “desperate.”
“We still haven’t recovered from Hurricane Otis,” she said. “Now, we’re in a situation that appears to be worse.”
Marta Soteldo, another Acapulco resident, told AFP that she became “sick with nerves” when strong winds whipped up dust and lifted sheet roofs off homes early last week.
“Children became hysterical,” she added.
Some 25,000 military and National Guard personnel were deployed to coastal Guerrero to assist affected residents and contribute to cleanup efforts.
“We’re rescuing those who were trapped by flooding in neighborhoods in Acapulco,” López Obrador said late last week.
AMLO, who will cede the presidential sash to Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday, said that the amount of rain that fell during four consecutive days in southern Pacific coast states “hadn’t been seen in a long time.”
Sheinbaum to visit Acapulco on Wednesday
A day after she is sworn in as Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum intends to travel to Acapulco to assess the situation in the storm-ravaged city.
The president-elect said in a social media post that she had spoken to Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado and agreed to visit Acapulco on Wednesday afternoon with members of her cabinet.
In addition to assessing the situation on the ground, Sheinbaum said that federal authorities would look at plans “to continue with all the help necessary for Guerrero” to recover from Hurricane John.
“In the same way, we will continue the support that the government of President López Obrador is providing to Oaxaca and Michoacán,” she said.
“We are humanist governments,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the current federal administration, and that which she will lead for six years starting on Tuesday.
With reports from El Universal, EFE, BBC, Infobae and AFP
