(AFP) — Ten people have died and 20 are missing since Hurricane Agatha Category 2 made landfall in Mexico’s Oaxaca state yesterday, but the phenomenon was reduced to a tropical depression on Tuesday, the local government said.
“At the moment, we are reporting that about 20 people are missing, mostly in the high mountain area, namely in the mountains,” Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat told Radio Formula. “Preliminarily, local authorities informed us that 10 people have sadly lost their lives.”
According to Murat, the balance of the victims is due to the flooding of the rivers and the landslides on the hills. “The day ended with no casualties when Agatha touched the land,” the governor said earlier. But heavy rains recorded in the early hours of Tuesday caused rivers to overflow and landslides.
The phenomenon made landfall as the 2nd hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale (out of 5) west of Puerto Ángel, a coastal community of about 2,500 in Oaxaca, on Monday afternoon.
Agatha was moving south of Veracruz (east) this Tuesday, which borders the Gulf of Mexico and is causing torrential rains in that area and the south of the country. “The biggest impact we have is basically on the roads, but communication needs to be reestablished by noon,” added Murat.
Officials found about 5,240 tourists in the area, which is home to resorts like Puerto Escondido and Huatulco, which are popular with European tourists and American surfers.
Agatha is the first storm of the 2022 season in the Pacific. Mexico is affected by tropical cyclones each year on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.
The 2021 hurricane season from May 15 to November 30 was moderately active with 40 tornadoes. According to the Mexican meteorologist, 15 of them were hurricanes.
source: Noticias
