Acapulco, Gro., One year after Hurricane Otis, Category 5 (the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale), devastated Acapulco, leaving 52 people dead and 31 missing, uncertainty persists among the population because they still see a distant view of a full recovery in some areas of the port, where urban and environmental deterioration is visible.
There has certainly been progress in reconstruction after the devastation caused by winds of up to 300 kilometers per hour that hit the port in the early hours of October 25, 2023; however, the work was hampered by Hurricane John in late September.
Although the torrential rains that hit the area between the 23rd and 27th of that month did not cause major economic losses, they did leave a desolate landscape, with a lack of water supply in more than half of the homes and a tourism industry in decline due to a lack of visitors, a lack of diversification in the service offering, and the violent incidents that frequently occur in the city.
Natalia Salvador González, 65, a waitress at Suave Beach, in the traditional neighborhood, lives in the Morelos neighborhood. She was able to rebuild her asbestos-sheet home and buy supplies and appliances thanks to the aid she received from the federal government after Hurricane Otis, but now John has knocked down a wall of her building.
