A swathe of destruction left after one of the most powerful storms ever to hit Mexico battered the beach resort of Acapulco, killing at least 27 people, has been laid bare by aerial images.
Before and after shots reveal the scale of devastation wrought by Hurricane Otis, which saw the city of nearly 900,000 lashed by winds of 165mph, causing damage estimated to run into billions of pounds.
Hospitals were flooded, large trees torn up by the roots, roofs ripped off homes and hotels, roads submerged and power lines cut, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity.
In the face of a slow government emergency response to the scenes of chaos in western Mexico, people are becoming desperate, lacking even the most basic resources.
Acapulco’s commercial and military airports were also still too badly damaged to resume flights, further hampering recovery efforts.
Among those missing is a three-year-old girl who was swept away from her mother in a mudslide.
Helping in the search was Flora Contreras Santos, who said: “The mountain came down on them. The mud took her from the mother’s arms.
“We need help, the mother is in bad shape and we can’t find the girl.”
Juan Pablo Lopez, 26, had been talking to his wife when their call was cut off early Wednesday as Otis made landfall.
She had returned to Acapulco to be with her family and give birth to their son a month ago.
Mr Lopez, who was at home in Cancun, said: “I’m very worried for my newborn son.”
Erik Lozoya, a professional magician, said he endured “three hours of terror” with his wife and two baby daughters in an Acapulco hotel room as the hurricane smashed through the windows and swept through the building.
The 26-year-old, who barricaded himself in a bathroom with his family and four others, said: “It literally felt as though our ears were going to explode.
“We saw mattresses, water tanks flying. The ceiling began to cave in.”
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Meanwhile, in the face of pillaging, Acapulco’s police chief Luis Enrique Vazquez Rodriguez said: “We don’t have the capacity to stop looting because there’s so many people.
“This is a completely extraordinary situation.”
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said: “What Acapulco suffered was really disastrous.”
Acapulco is the biggest city in the southern state of Guerrero, one of the poorest in Mexico.
The local economy depends heavily on tourism, and Otis caused extensive damage to some of the most famous hotels on the city’s coast.
Describing the storm as “totally devastating”, state governor Evelyn Salgado said 80% of the city’s hotels had been affected and that authorities were working to restore electricity and water supplies.
The destruction wrought by Otis, a Category 5 storm, has added to concerns about the impact of climate change, which many scientists believe will lead to more frequent extreme weather events.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
