Hurricane Otis hits Mexico - 1st November 2023

Hurricane Otis hit Mexico's Pacific coast. The hurricane blew winds of 270 kilometres per hour. It damaged 80 percent of hotels in Acapulco.

Many communities were damaged. People lost their homes and businesses. They have no water or electricity. The Mexican government sent 17,000 soldiers to help. But the roads are blocked.

The residents are working together. They're trying to clean the roads. Margarita Carmona says this will help the soldiers to arrive quickly.

Margarita Carmona: "We all agreed, we are going to unite as neighbours to pick up everything that is in the way, so that we can get through and wait for the help that may arrive."

The wind broke lots of windows. People lost their clothes and shoes. It's unsafe to walk outside. Julian Matadama's a fisherman.

Julian Matadama: "We are barefoot and we have nothing. We do not want to see the wounds we have on our feet because we don't want it to stop us going out to get food for our children."

People need to fix their homes. But Omar Flores says they have no money.

Omar Flores: "There won't be any tourists for a while. We don't know how we are going to get by. All we can think about is where we will get the money from to rebuild what we used to have."

All the hotels are damaged. Tourists won't travel to Acapulco. There'll be no jobs. Life will be hard. But people have to start building their homes again. Juana Flores says they have no choice.

Juana Flores: "Right now we are seeing how we are going to be able to work. First and foremost, we need to fix the roof, and then with the little produce that survived, we will start working again. That's the only thing we can do."