Home Tags Posts tagged with "tropical storms"

tropical storms

The death toll of Tropical Storms Manuel and Ingrid in Mexico now stands at 110, the interior minister says.

Another 68 are still missing, believed dead, after a landslide destroyed the village of La Pintada in western Guerrero state.

President Enrique Pena Nieto asked Congress to increase the federal budget in light of the emergency.

Officials are still trying to evaluate the total extent of the damage.

“We are confronting rainfall that has practically been the most extensive in the history of the entire national territory,” President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Sunday.

“Today we can already anticipate that due to the damages that we have seen, our [emergency] funds are insufficient.”

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said work was under way to establish which areas were worst affected by Tropical Storm Manuel which hit Mexico’s western coast, and Ingrid, which made landfall on its eastern coast last week.

Twenty-four out of Mexico’s 31 states have been affected by the twin storms.

“There’s no point in the government offering us kind words and nothing else,” Alicia Sanchez told the Associated Press news agency.

The death toll of Tropical Storms Manuel and Ingrid in Mexico now stands at 110

The death toll of Tropical Storms Manuel and Ingrid in Mexico now stands at 110

“They’ve made us promises but I don’t think they’ll keep them,” the Acapulco resident said.

Acapulco’s international airport re-opened for commercial flights on Sunday, a week after it had to close due to power cuts and flooding.

Some 20,000 people are still living in shelters in the surrounding state of Guerrero.

Rescue workers continue to search the rubble and mud for bodies of those buried in a landslide in La Pintada, where some 40 homes were swept away by mud from a hillside.

Touring the site of the disaster on Saturday, President Enrique Pena Nieto said there was little hope of finding anyone alive.

Lt Carlos Alberto Mendoza, who is leading the team of soldiers searching La Pintada, said it was the most daunting task he had faced in more than two decades of service.

“They are doing unbelievable work, hours and hours for just one body,” he said of his team of 16 soldiers.

“No matter how hard the day is, they never get tired of working,” he added.

Continuing rainfall is putting the rescue workers at risk of renewed landslides.

Five police officers died on Thursday when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a hillside on its way to La Pintada.

A total of 1.2 million people were affected when Tropical Storm Manuel made landfall on 15 September on Mexico’s south-western coastline.

More than 25,000 tourists had to be airlifted out of Acapulco after the beach resort was cut off.

Just 24 hours after Manuel had made landfall, Tropical Storm Ingrid hit the country’s Gulf coast, causing destruction in Verazcruz and Tamaulipas.

After temporarily weakening, Manuel regained strength and hit Mexico’s north-western coast with hurricane-strength winds and more rain on Thursday.

Forecasters say rains will continue to fall on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and the country’s interior until Tuesday.

[youtube 8QAdHQaB-p0]

Tropical Storm Manuel, which has battered the south-west of Mexico, has gathered strength and is now a category one hurricane, US meteorologists say.

Hurricane Manuel is now approaching north-western Mexico and threatens more destruction, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

The tropical storms Ingrid and Manuel killed 80 people earlier this week.

Now 58 people are reported missing after a landslide buried a village in the south-west of the country.

US experts say Hurricane Manuel is sustaining winds of 75mph and moving towards the coast.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said that 58 people were missing after the landslide in the village of La Pintada in Guerrero state.

“It doesn’t look good, based on the photos we have in our possession,” said Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, saying it was a “very powerful” landslide.

“Up to this point, we do not have any [confirmed] dead in the landslide,” he added.

Tens of thousands of tourists, cut off by landslides caused by Manuel, are still being transported out of the Mexican resort of Acapulco.

Tropical Storm Manuel, which has battered the south-west of Mexico, has gathered strength and is now a category one hurricane

Tropical Storm Manuel, which has battered the south-west of Mexico, has gathered strength and is now a category one hurricane

More than 2,000 tourists have been airlifted from the Air Base Seven military facility north of the resort.

Since the weekend, passengers have been stranded in hotels and at Acapulco’s international airport, where water flooded the terminal.

Manuel was almost immediately followed by Hurricane Ingrid, causing widespread devastation in the east of the country. It was the first time since 1958 that two powerful storms hit Mexico within 24 hours.

Main roads out of Acapulco have been blocked by landslips, leaving tourists and local residents stranded in the city and along Mexico’s west coast.

At Air Base Seven, soldiers guarded families who waited for hours outside the base until they were allowed to board one of the few aircraft which would take them to Mexico City.

In Acapulco, passengers were being taken directly from shelters to the runway because the main airport terminal remained closed.

Dozens of other towns in the south-western Guerrero state have also been hit by Manuel since it made landfall on Sunday.

There are fears that remote hillside communities may be particularly affected.

In the east, Hurricane Ingrid was downgraded to a tropical storm shortly before it made landfall on Monday near the town of La Pesca.

More than 20,000 people have since been evacuated in the state of Veracruz.

[youtube Ek66dIzglaw]