By LUIS ALBERTO CRUZ and FABIOLA S. NCHEZ
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) As rain from Hurricane Erick’s aftermath soaked the area on Friday, authorities in southern Mexico continued to survey damage and monitor rising rivers.
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After Edwards diminished after making landfall early Thursday on a sparsely populated section of coast, officials continued to worry about torrential rains over steep coastal mountains and the potential for landslides and flooding.
According to President Claudia Sheinbaum, the storm’s death toll was still at one Friday: a one-year-old kid who perished in a flooded river. She added that she would be going to the impacted area on Friday.
About half of the 277,000 customers who lost power had it back, and in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, where Erick traveled, troops, marines, and the National Guard were assisting in clearing debris and reopening highways.
A Category 3 major storm, Erick made landfall between the tourist cities of Acapulco and Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico in the morning. It passed over Michoacan State’s mountains on Thursday night.
Because of the disastrous memories of Hurricane Otis in 2023, coastal residents, particularly those in Acapulco, took the storm seriously. Authorities reported landslides, blocked roadways, downed power lines, and some floods.
As it got closer to the shore, Erick intensified into a Category 4 storm, but it subsided to a Category 3 storm before reaching land.
In less than a day, Erick’s strength had doubled, and he was churning through the perfect setting for rapid intensification. According to the hurricane center, there were 34 instances of rapid intensification last year, which occurs when a storm gains at least 55 kph (35 mph) in a 24-hour period. This is roughly double the average and complicates predictions.
Authorities had warned that the problem might arise from the heavy rain. A river in Juchitan, Oaxaca, overflowed its banks on Friday, according to National Civil Defense Coordinator Laura Vel zquez, and several families sought refuge.
Up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) of rain were predicted to fall in Oaxaca and Guerrero, with lower amounts forecast in the states of Chiapas, Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco. The precipitation posed a risk of mudslides and flooding, particularly in regions with steep terrain.
Roberto Arroyo, the director of civil defense for Guerrero state, announced late Thursday that a 1-year-old boy had perished in Erick’s path in San Marcos, an inland village southeast of Acapulco. While carrying the infant, the mother attempted to cross a flooded river, but the child fell out of her arms and drowned.
While schools in Guerrero were to stay closed on Friday while authorities continued to assess damage, clear debris, and monitor rising waterways, restaurants, stores, and supermarkets in Acapulco gradually reopened.
The port was overcast on Friday, but the rain had ceased.
Because of the recollection of the destruction two years prior, the people of Acapulco had prepared and feared Erick’s coming more.
In October 2023, Hurricane Otis, a Category 5 storm that quickly grew stronger and caught many unprepared, struck the city of around a million people. Nearly all of the resort’s hotels suffered significant damage from the storm, and at least 52 people lost their lives in Otis.
“A lot of us were scared, but it’s over now,” Juan Carlos Casta Eda, 49, a security guard at a condominium complex in Acapulco, stated the night before. He claimed that we were all impacted by the Otis tragedy.
Casta Eda made the decision to go for a walk in spite of the rain.
Cruz reported from Mexico’s Puerto Escondido.
Go to https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america to follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean.
