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Hurricane batters Mexico

September 19, 2013

Hurricane Manuel has made landfall in northwestern Mexico, hitting the country with a third major storm in less than a week. Flooding and landslides across the country have killed at least 97 people.

https://p.dw.com/p/19kq0
People stand on the edge of a collapsed bridge as they wait to ferry their goods via a boat across the Papagayos River, south of Acapulco, near Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Mexico was hit by the one-two punch of twin storms over the weekend, and the storm that soaked Acapulco on Sunday - Manuel -re-formed into a tropical storm Wednesday, threatening to bring more flooding to the country's northern coast. With roads blocked by landslides, rockslides, floods and collapsed bridges, Acapulco was cut off from road transport. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) ***FREI FÜR SOCIAL MEDIA***
Image: picture-alliance/AP

Manuel made landfall west of the city of Culiacan in Sinaloa state, with winds of up to 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour on Thursday. The new storm brings the fresh threat of flash floods and mudslides, according to US and Mexican weather forecasters.

Manuel was originally a tropical storm but re-emerged as a hurricane after hitting the southwest of the country on Sunday. Combined with tropical storm Ingrid on the east coast, both weather systems have left a trail of destruction that has killed at least 80 people.

More than a million people have been affected across the country, and some 50,000 have been evacuated from their homes.

The death toll could rise after the discovery of a huge mudslide that crashed into La Pintada, a small mountain village west of the Pacific resort of Acapulco in Guerrero state.

Mexico flooding strands tourists in Acapulco

On Wednesday night, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto said about 58 people are still missing in the mudslide.

Mass flooding in the Pacific resort of Acapulco has also stranded some 40,000 tourists and has been hit by looting.

The US National Hurricane Center said an area of low pressure over the southern Gulf of Mexico had a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours. The center said it expects heavy rains in already flooded areas in southern and eastern Mexico.

The country's finance ministry said it had around 12 billion pesos ($925.60 million) available in emergency funding to cope with the damage.

State oil monopoly Pemex said it had sent technicians to fix a ruptured 12-inch (30 cm) oil pipeline between the Gulf port of Madero inland to Cadereyta after it was damaged by heavy rains.

hc/lw (AFP, AP, Reuters)