10 dead, 20 missing as Hurricane Agatha hits Mexico

Hurricane Agatha has left at least 10 people dead and nearly 20 others missing in southern Mexico, where torrential rains produced landslides and flooding, according to local officials.

According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm, which was the first hurricane of the Pacific season, was the strongest to make landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast in May since records began in 1949.

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“Right now we’re at around 20 people missing, most of them are in the upper mountains,” Alejandro Murat, the governor of Oaxaca state, told Radio Formula, adding that “10 who lost their lives were unfortunately preliminarily reported by local authorities.”

“When Agatha made landfall, the day ended without any loss of human life, but heavy rains that occurred early Tuesday morning caused rivers to burst their banks and landslides,” Murat stated earlier in the day.

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According to the Oaxaca civil protection agency, two people aged 18 and 21 perished after part of a slope fell in the town of Santa Catarina Xanaguia.

A landslide in Llano del Chillar killed another mother and wounded her child, according to the report.

Agatha made landfall at Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, on Monday as a Category 2 storm, the second weakest in a five-point system, with winds of 165 kilometres per hour (105 miles per hour).

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Tropical storms batter Mexico’s Pacific and Atlantic shores on a regular basis, usually between the months of May and November.

Grace, a Category 3 hurricane that slammed Mexico in August and killed 11 people in the eastern states of Veracruz and Puebla, was the deadliest storm of the year.

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