The official death toll from Hurricane Otis now stands at 48 (43 in Acapulco and 5 in Coyuca de Benitez, a smaller city just up the coast from Acapulco) with 6 people still officially missing. Many of the dead have not yet been identified. Officials also said over the weekend that 278 people in Acapulco were staying in five emergency shelters, while 13 hundred and 42 people were staying in seven emergency shelters in Coyuca de Benitez.
As of late last night, the Associated Press was reporting that 42 percent of homes and businesse in Acapulco still had no electricity, and that also meant no clean water. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that some 220 thousand homes had been damaged by the storm. The AP reported that 21 water-tanker trucks were delivering water, but to whom? No word on how people would be able to use that water without electricity.
Several news outlets carried a story this morning saying that the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned Mexico’s national meteorological service on Tuesday that ‘a nightmare scenario’ was developing — hours before the storm made landfall, at least as early as 6:00pm Acapulco time. (CORRECTION: We subsequently removed a portion of the broadcast because some of the specific details in that particular story didn’t check out.)
It wasn’t until 8:25pm that President López Obrador issued a warning about the intensity of the coming category-5 storm… via his Twitter account:
Meanwhile, even two hours after that, Mexico’s national meteorological service was still tweeting earlier, out-of-date information about a less-intense storm!
The rapid intensification of Otis from a tropical storm in the worst type of hurricane in about 13 hours has caused forecasters to pay a lot more attention to tropical storms. This morning meteorologists have their eye on Tropical Storm Pilar, currently a few hundred miles off the Pacific coast of El Salvador. Accuweather forecasters currently project Pilar moving away from the coast. Oaxaca Newscast will keep you posted on any developments.
Today in the capital city (Oaxaca de Juarez) we’ll have mostly sunny skies and highs of around 26.5ºC (80ºF) and overnight lows of just under 14ºC (57ºF). On the coast, expect highs of 30-31ºC (86ºF) with a 50 percent chance of showers in the afternoon.
Support for Oaxaca Newscast comes from Galería Fango Barro Negro, a gallery owned by the Simón-Pacheco family featuring black pottery made by three generations of ceramicists, Galería Fango Barro Negro is located at Calle Reforma number 3 in San Bartolo Coyotepec. Open Monday thru Friday from 10am to 7pm, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 7:30pm.
As activities for Día de Muertos get under way, a group that advocates for cyclists’ safety have set up their own altar to call attention to bicycle and traffic safety issues in Oaxaca, El Universal reports. The altar, titled “Not One More Traffic Death” is on display at El Sagrado Filemón bakery and café in the Centro until November 3rd.
Also, check out the festival of hot chocolate and day of the dead bread at the Plaza de la Danza from 5 to 10pm, with a Son Jarocho concert at 7:30pm:
In the Jalatlaco neighborhood, which is famous for going all-out for it’s Día de Muertos decorations, there will be a serenade at the church at 7pm followed by a bike ride at 8pm leaving from the church.
Also at 7pm the city choir will be performing a requiem and sacred sonnets at the church in Xochilmilco near the entrance to the cemetery.
In winter-league baseball, the Guerreros came from behind with a four-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Veracruz Águila 7 to 6 last night here in Oaxaca. Their next game will be this Thursday in Xalapa.
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