Mexico’s Death Toll From Hurricane Otis Reaches 43 - Governor

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - At least 43 people died in the Mexican state of Guerrero when Hurricane Otis, a devastating Category 5 storm, hit the country's Pacific coast this week, Governor Evelyn Salgado said Sunday.

"There have been 43 confirmed deaths: 33 men and 10 women," Salgado wrote on social media. Another 36 individuals were reported as having sustained injuries.

The state authorities are busy distributing humanitarian aid and restoring services to the affected population, she added.

Power supply has been restored to 58% of the coastal resort city of Acapulco where the hurricane made a landfall on Wednesday as the strongest storm on record in Mexico's Pacific coast.

Additionally, more than 10,000 families in Acapulco and nearby Coyuca de Benitez have been interviewed to gauge the damage. To date, residents have gone days facing food and water supply shortages - supermarkets have even been looted.

“I saw the whole disaster,” Melissa Martínez, who was in her beachfront apartment in Pie de la Cuesta when the hurricane hit, told US media. “The stores were emptied from day one.”

“Money isn’t much use at this moment because all of the chain stores have been totally looted, and there’s nowhere to buy things to eat," she added.

In response to the looting, government officials have deployed some 15,000 Mexican service members to restore order and ease tensions in the region.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador earlier blasted critics who he accused of attempting to take advantage of the government's response ahead of the nation's 2024 presidential election.

"They circle like vultures, they don't care about people's pain, they want to hurt us, for there to have been lots of deaths," he said in a 24-minute video shared online.

Officials believe it will take upwards of a year for the affected region to be brought back to its pre-hurricane status. Early estimates suggest the cost of the devastation run into the billions.