Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
Two days after an extraordinarily powerful hurricane lashed Acapulco, causing widespread damage and killing at least 27 people, survivors here were growing increasingly desperate.
A quarter-million homes remained without electricity Friday and food, gasoline and clean water were in short supply. Many in the city of nearly 1 million resorted to taking goods from shattered storefronts because of a lack of aid distribution and few if any shopping establishments open for business.
Streets blocked by downed power poles, mangled palms and other debris were jammed with storm-damaged vehicles loaded with passengers eager to flee.
“Nobody has helped us,” said José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer stranded in Acapulco since Hurricane Otis slammed into the city with 165-mph winds early Wednesday morning. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”
Castro was one of dozens of tourists camped out late Thursday in front of a shuttered gas station along Acapulco’s iconic coastal boulevard, Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán.
Once lined with sleek hotels, nightclubs and seaside restaurants selling fish, the road had become unrecognizable: strewn with glass, twisted metal and other debris. Hotels and high-rise condos were mangled, their balconies sheared away as though a malevolent giant had clawed through the city.
“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” said Amalia Garrido, a 63-year-old tourist who arrived in Acapulco on Monday with seven family members to celebrate her grandson’s birthday.
Their hotel was severely damaged, so they and other guests had been forced out on the streets. She and her relatives had no idea how to exit the city, and no clue where to sleep.
“The truth is that I am afraid,” Garrido said. “There is no water here, there is no food.”
“People are stealing everywhere,” she said, adding that she felt a mix of “danger, sadness, worry and fear.”
Federal officials said there were more than 13,000 federal troops in the city, and that 7,500 portions of food supplies had been distributed in different neighborhoods affected by the hurricane, along with 7,000 liters of water.
On Friday, officials said 40 tons of supplies were due to arrive at an airport just north of the city.
Yet many on the ground said the government appeared all but absent.
“The president says there are people helping us here, but there’s nobody,” said one sobbing woman in a video widely circulated on social media. “And there are many dead, many more than they say.”
Speaking at his daily news conference on Friday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador downplayed the disorder and desperation. He said officials on Friday would be meeting with members of the hotel industry, who have said that 80% of hotels in the city were destroyed.
López Obrador said he thought the city could be rebuilt in “little time.”
“We will not leave Acapulco until it’s reestablished and has returned to normal,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that the intensity of the storm took the government and weather experts by surprise.
Just 24 hours before the deluge, meteorologists were predicting Otis would make landfall as a relatively light Category 1 hurricane. But after hitting a patch of warm ocean water it grew in less than 24 hours into what the National Hurricane Center warned would be a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
Otis is one of the fastest-growing hurricanes ever observed. Scientists say that as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, similarly super-charged hurricanes are likely to be more frequent.
Times staffer Kate Linthicum reported from Mexico City and staffer Patrick J. McDonnell reported from Acapulco. Also contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Acapulco.
