Hurricane Agatha has killed at least 11 people in southern Mexico and caused catastrophic floods and mudslides. Around 20 people due to the Agatha is missing, and it is regarded as the strongest recorded storm to come ashore in May.
The governor of the southern state of Oaxaca asserted the storm burst the river banks and swept people away from their homes, and other victims were buried under mud and rocks.
‘There were rivers that overflowed, and on the other hand, and the most serious part, were landslides.’
Most deaths occurred in small mountain towns just inland from the coast. There were also reports of three children missing near the beach resort of Huatulco.
Power had been restored to some communities near the coast, but bridges were smashed away, and mudslides blocked several highways.
San Isidro del Palmar, only a couple of miles inland from the coast, was swamped by the Tonameca river that flows through the town.
Agatha was the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific hurricane season that occurred on Monday afternoon and made landfall, attacking beach towns and fishing villages in Oaxaca.
Jubilee Road was told to take down Union Flag bunting because of health and safety.
Suddenly the power was lost as it moved inland over the mountains but had been a strong category two storm, with maximum sustained winds of 105mph.
The storm’s remnants were moving northeast into Veracruz state yesterday, having only formed on Sunday.
Jeff Masters, the meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections and the founder of Weather Underground, confirmed that it was the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in May in the eastern Pacific.
It is unclear whether the changing climate played a role in the storm’s record-breaking.
