Hurricane Otis kills 27 in Mexico

By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) — At least 27 people are dead in Acapulco, Mexico, after Hurricane Otis slammed into the coast Wednesday as a record-breaking Category 5 storm.

Four people are also missing, Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said during a news conference on Thursday morning.

Mexican officials are still working to determine the full extent of the devastation caused by Otis, which caused widespread communication outages for residents and emergency crews.

The outages have significantly limited authorities’ ability to survey or share the magnitude of Otis’ impact. But images and video show the damaging winds and rain left behind roadways blanketed with several feet of water and swaths of buildings with shattered windows and damaged infrastructure.

More than 500,000 homes and businesses lost power across Mexico’s Guerrero state, power utility CFE said Wednesday. Service had been restored to 40% of those affected, it added.

Unable to get a damage assessment from teams on the ground, Mexican government officials began traveling to Acapulco on Wednesday to assess the damage in person.

“We are going there because we do not have any communication with our colleagues who have already been there for a week doing preventive work for a tropical storm and which in 12 hours became a hurricane,” National Coordinator of Civil Protection Laura Velázquez said in an interview with local news channel Milenio TV.

Officials and residents were left with little time to prepare for the severity of the storm because early forecasts significantly underestimated the threat. Otis rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane – the area’s strongest storm on record – in just 12 hours.

Otis weakened quickly once it moved inland. By Wednesday afternoon, it had dissipated over the mountains of southern Mexico. The storm’s heavy rains are forecast to continue impacting the region through Thursday, possibly triggering flash flooding and mudslides, the National Hurricane Center said.

Though the immediate threat has subsided, the region is just beginning the path to recovery.

Images from the impacted area show structures torn apart and piled with uprooted trees and foliage, while several high-rise buildings have had their windows blown out. A number of roadways have also been flooded, leaving some to wade through several feet of murky water.

In one Acapulco home, video taken during the storm shows a family sheltering under a mattress and struggling to take cover as harsh winds and rain tear through their shattered windows.

Mexican National Guard personnel have been working to clear stranded vehicles, downed trees and other debris scattered in the storm, the agency said in a news release.

The Acapulco International Airport has suspended operations as it recovers from the storm, the office of Mexico’s Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation said in a release. The agency shared images of large piles of debris thrown around the airport.

Otis’ rapid intensification is a symptom of the human-caused climate crisis, scientists say – a scenario that is becoming more frequent.

Scientists have defined rapid intensification as a wind speed increase of at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less, generally requiring significant ocean heat.

More than 90% of warming around the globe over the past 50 years has taken place in the oceans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In addition, El Niño is growing in the Pacific this year, driving ocean temperatures even higher.

CNN’s Karol Suarez in Mexico City and CNN’s Taylor Ward, Mary Gilbert, Ana Melgar, Claudia Rebaza, Abel Alvarado and Rachel Ramirez contributed to this report.

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