Thursday 19 September 2013

Hurricane Manuel hits Mexico; dozens missing after mudslide

Dozens of people are missing after a mudslide buried homes as Manuel pounded the country's Pacific Coast, Mexico's president said Wednesday.
At least 58 people are unaccounted for in the municipality of Atoyac de Alvarez, Mexican Pesident Enrique Peña Nieto told reporters Wednesday, describing damage there as "catastrophic."

The mayor of Atoyac, which is about 50 miles west of Acapulco, told CNNMexico that 15 bodies had been recovered and at least 70 people remained trapped under mud that buried 20 homes.
Peña Nieto said hundreds of people have been rescued from La Pintada, the community in Atoyac hit by the mudslide. It's unclear how many people remain buried, he said.
Manuel, which strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday evening, was one of three storms bringing devastating deluges and flooding to Mexico. At least 80 people were killed in the storms, Mexico's interior ministry said.
Veronica Garcia told CNN en Español that family was stuck on the home's second floor because of flooding. As if that wasn't enough, they had to face an agonizing decision: Who should be rescued?
The Garcias were among some 40,000 tourists left stranded or cut off by weather that has claimed dozens of lives during a holiday weekend.
As the water rose, Garcia and her four family members waited nervously on the upper floor for help, but no rescuers appeared to whisk them to safety.
When local volunteers finally arrived with a small kayak, their relief was short-lived. Rescuers said the boat would only fit two family members.
It was decided that Garcia would be rescued, along with one of her sons.
A second round of agony followed as Garcia spent two days in a shelter before the rest of her family was rescued and everyone was reunited.
The Garcias' story was only one of countless examples of tourists whose vacations were interrupted by severe weather. Mexico was being pummeled from nearly all sides Wednesday as Manuel, the remnants of Hurricane Ingrid and a new area of low pressure threatened most of the country with flooding or rain.
Mexico's interior ministry said Wednesday that the storms are responsible for at least 80 deaths nationwide.



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