Mexico assesses the damage caused by Hurricane Erick while the rising rivers leave at least 1 death

Acapulco, Mexico – The authorities in southern Mexico always evaluated damage and looked at the rising rivers like the rain of the remains of Hurricane Erick sprayed the region.

The torrential rains above the steep coastal mountains and the landslides and the floods they could generate have become a continuous concern for those responsible after Erick dissipated following a land early Thursday on a section of little populated coast.

At least one death was confirmed on Thursday evening, a 1 year old boy who drowned in a swollen river.

Erick went down to the ground on the south of the Pacific Coast of Mexico in the morning as a major category 3 oulgan, but he landed between the cities of the Acapulco and Puerto Escondido station.

The authorities reported landslides, blocked the highways, shot down electric lines and certain floods as coastal residents, especially in Acapulco, took the storm seriously with memories of the devastating Otis hurricane in 2023 still fresh in their mind.

With regular rain falling on Acapulco, the residents and remaining tourists emerged to get out or visit companies that gradually opened while the remains of Hurricane Erick scratched by just inside the resort.

In Puerto Escondido, the fishermen searched and inspected boats and residents storming them and residents have released trees and other debris.

The threat of heavy rains has remained in the mountains that suddenly rise behind the famous beaches of Acapulco. Erick spent the day hanging out in the coastal mountain range, dropping torrential rainy quantities.

He had to dissipate Thursday evening on the mountains of the state of Michoacan.

Erick once had a category 4 force

The National Hurricane Hurricane Center in Miami said that Erick was centered at around 95 miles in the north-northwest of Acapulco on Thursday evening. Its maximum sustained winds were 30 MPH, degrading it in a low pressure area. He was moving northwest to 13 MPH.

Erick had strengthened at a category 4 storm as the coast approaches, but weakened before going to a category 3.

Having doubled in less than a day, Erick produced an ideal environment for rapid intensification. Last year, there were 34 rapid intensification incidents – when a storm earns at least 35 MPH in 24 hours – which represents about double the average and causes forecast problems, according to the Hurricane Center.

A reported death

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday “people have reacted very well so far”.

But the authorities have warned that heavy rains would now become the problem.

The forecasters expected up to 16 inches of rain could fall through Oaxaca and Guerrero, with less totals in the states of Chiapas, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco. Precipitation threatened the floods and mud shifts, especially in areas with steep terrain.

Late Thursday, the director of Civil Defense of the State of Guerrero, Roberto Arroyo, said that a one-year-old boy died in San Marcos, an interior community southeast of Acapulco on the way to Erick. The child’s mother had tried to cross a swollen river by carrying the child, but he slipped with his arms and drowned.

Residents venture

Restaurants, stores and supermarkets have gradually reopened in Acapulco, but schools were to remain closed in Guerrero on Friday while the authorities continued to assess the damage, clear debris and monitor the rising rivers.

“Many of us were afraid, but now it has passed,” said Juan Carlos Castañeda, a 49 -year -old security guard at an Acapulco co -ownership complex. He said that “Otis’ tragedy has marked us all”.

Despite the rain, Castañeda decided to go out for a walk.

At the bottom of the coast in the fishing village of Barra Vieja, the mad surfing of the wind beat the shore and the heavy rains kept the residents inside.

Perla Rosas, however, was one of the few to venture, umbrella in hand, to go to work in a convenience store. “I feel more relaxed now, so I decided to come and work.”

Acapulco still marked by Otis

The Acapulco residents had prepared for the arrival of Erick with more preparation and trepidation due to the memory of devastation two years earlier.

The city of almost a million was affected in October 2023 by Hurricane Otis, a category 5 hurricane which quickly intensified and caught many people without preparation. At least 52 people died in Otis and the storm has seriously damaged almost all the hotels in the complex.