Two powerful storms simultaneously battering Mexico's east and west coasts have caused major flooding, stranding tens of thousands of people by blocking access to roads and inundating airports. At least 55 people have been killed across the country by the effects of Tropical Storm Manuel on the Pacific coast and Hurricane Ingrid, which battered the Gulf coast over the weekend.
The resort town of Acapulco on the Pacific coast was the worst hit. More than a dozen landslides from the surrounding hills blocked access to roads and waist-deep water flooded the airport, stranding about 40,000 visitors, many of whom had traveled from other parts of Mexico to enjoy a long holiday weekend.
Food is being rationed for the thousands of stranded in Acapulco while the landslides and flooding have prevented the delivery of supplies, pouring salt on the wounds of an economy heavily dependent on tourist spending, Reuters reported, adding that the main tunnel that leads into Acapulco was completely blocked with mud.
Further west along the Pacific coast, access to the town of Coyuca de Benitez was blocked after a river washed out a bridge.
"Flour's already run out. There isn't any in Coyuca," bread shop owner Marcela Higuera, told the Associated Press. "This is the worst storm that I've seen."
"There are hundreds of people in shelters and they're begging for clothes and blankets because everything they have is wet," she said. "They had to leave without taking anything."
Since the weekend, the rains have killed at least 55 people in the states of Veracruz, Guerrero, Puebla, Hidalgo, Michoacan and Oaxaca, Reuters reported, citing regional emergency services. At least 34 of the deaths came from Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.
Alejandro Hernandez, a 40-year-old landscape gardener on vacation from Mexico City, was stranded in an Acapulco hotel with his wife and young daughter.
"The panorama is one of devastation," he told Reuters. "The hotel is no longer functioning as a business. The staff is starting to leave. They have closed the front desk, switched off the computers. All they have done is caused panic by saying they are going to start rationing, turn off power and cut water."
The storms have now dissipated, but rains still fall throughout much of the country. Some 1 million people have been affected by the flooding, according to Reuters, which added that the in the state of Guerrero alone the rains have caused more than 5 billion pesos ($387 million) in damage.