HUATULCO, June 02(ABC): The strongest hurricane on record to hit Mexico s Pacific coast in May left at least 11 people dead and 22 missing after triggering landslides and destroying homes, officials said Wednesday.
Authorities were struggling to reach remote mountain communities worst affected by Hurricane Agatha, after rockfalls and mudslides cut off roads.
“I embrace the relatives of those who have lost their lives,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his daily news conference.
“I hope that we find those who have disappeared when all the communities can be reached,” he added.
On Wednesday 22 people remained missing and the death toll stood at 11, the governor of the southern state of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat, told reporters.
Earlier Murat had reported 33 people missing, but he later clarified that the number included those killed.
In the small community of Puente Copalita in the municipality of Huatulco, residents whose homes were badly damaged or destroyed recounted fleeing before they could gather their belongings.
“When we were told to leave, we wanted to take something but we couldn t,” said Emilia Rios, whose wooden home with a metal roof was swept away by the storm.
“I didn t take a single plate, a cup, a change of clothes. Not even sheets or towels. Nothing,” she said.
A helicopter was on stand-by to fly to isolated communities when weather conditions allow, officials said.
Troops were deployed to the region — one of the poorest in Mexico — to clear roads.
“Highways have been affected by landslides, fallen trees, increased river flows as well as the collapse of two bridges,” said civil protection coordinator Laura Velazquez.