/ 21 September 2013

Death toll from Mexico storms climbs to over 100

Search for the missing continues in Mexico
Search for the missing continues in Mexico

At least 101 people have been killed in landslides and flooding caused by especially heavy rain in Mexico over the past week, government minister Miguel Angel Os said late Friday.

Os was speaking to reporters from the resort town of Acapulco, one of the worst-affected regions. 

He said that 68 people have been reported missing in the famous resort town.

Search for missing continues 

Mexican soldiers dug through tons of mud and dirt in their continuing search for landslide victims, as authorities looked for a federal police helicopter that went missing while carrying out relief operations on the flood-stricken Pacific coast.

The helicopter with three crew members on board was returning from the remote mountain village of La Pintada, where the mudslide occurred, when it went missing on Thursday.

“There is still no sign of it,” said Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong.

"They risked their lives all the time," Osorio Chong said. "We are truly worried."

Bodies recovered 

Using picks and shovels, soldiers and farmers removed dirt and rock from atop the cement or corrugated-metal roofs of houses looking for bodies in this town north of Acapulco, where 68 people were reported missing following Monday's slide. 

Others carried away pieces of trees, wood and other debris.

Two bodies have been recovered, but it was unclear if they were among those on the list of missing.

Thousands stranded 

Federal police have been helping move emergency supplies and aid victims of massive flooding caused by Tropical Storm Manuel, which washed out bridges and collapsed highways throughout the area, cutting Acapulco off by land and stranding thousands of tourists. 

At least 500 000 residents of the resort city didn't have running water, authorities said.

The country's Transportation Department said Friday that a patchwork connection of roads leading to Mexico City had been partially reopened around midday Friday. Part of the main toll highway, however, remain blocked by collapsed tunnels and mudslides, so drivers were being shunted to a smaller non-toll highway that is in better shape on some stretches.

Yet so badly damaged was that route that traffic was allowed through only in small groups escorted by federal police, and in only one direction: outward bound from Acapulco.

Thousands of cars, trucks and buses lined up at the edge of Acapulco, waiting to get out of the flood- and shortage-stricken city.

"We're a little calmer now. We've spent six days stranded, waiting to get out," said Armando Herrera, a tourist from Mexico state, outside of Mexico City, as he waited in his car to be allowed on to the newly reopened road.

La Pintada landslide 

Survivors of the La Pintada landslide staying at a shelter in Acapulco recounted how a tidal wave of dirt, rocks and trees exploded off the hill, sweeping through the center of town, burying families in their homes and sweeping wooden houses into the bed of the swollen river that winds past the village on its way to the Pacific.

"Everyone who could ran into the coffee fields. It smothered the homes and sent them into the river. Half the homes in town were smothered and buried," said Marta Alvarez, a 22-year-old homemaker who was cooking with her two-year-old son, two brothers and parents when the landslide struck.

La Pintada was the scene of the single greatest tragedy in the twin paths of destruction wreaked by Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid, which simultaneously pounded both of Mexico's coasts over the weekend, spawning huge floods and landslides across hundreds of miles of coastal and inland areas.

Manuel later gained hurricane force and rolled into the northern state of Sinaloa on Thursday morning before weakening over land. By Thursday night it had degenerated into an area of low pressure over the western Sierra Madre mountains, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Mexican president cancels UN trip 

President Enrique Pena Nieto said he was cancelling a trip to New York for the annual UN General Assembly because of the emergency. US Vice-President Joe Biden, visiting Mexico City for a Friday meeting with Pena Nieto, offered aid in flood recovery and relief efforts.

Federal officials set up donation centres for storm aid on Thursday. 

But they faced stiff questioning about why, instead of warning people more energetically about the oncoming storms, they focused on Independence Day celebrations and a military parade that kept dozens of aircraft and emergency vehicles in Mexico City.–Sapa-AP,AFP