Coastal Mexico reels from twin storms

Tropical Storm Manuel has drenched Mexico’s Pacific coast, killing nine peope, forcing thousands more into emergency shelters and causing severe flooding and road closures.

Meanwhile, on the Gulf Coast preparations are being made for Hurricane Ingrid, a Category 1 storm. With winds of 136kph, Ingrid was expected to make landfall early on Monday in the south of Tamaulipas.

Thousands of homes have been evacuated already.

Manuel has brought 100kph winds, high waves and between 250 to 380mm of rainfall to the Pacific coast’s beach resorts, including Acapulco.

Local authorities were also on watch for landslides and flooding from torrential rain in the states of
Michoacan and Colima.

In the southwestern state of Guerrero, six people died on Saturday when their van’s driver lost control due to a lack of visibility and a slippery road on their way to the resort city of Acapulco, Constantino Gonzales Vargas, a civil protection official, told the AFP news agency.

Landslides and the collapse of walls killed six other people in three Guerrero towns.

For its part, Ingrid drenched Tamaulipas and Veracruz states on Sunday, with thousands of people seeking emergency shelters as river levels rose.

More than 6,000 people were in temporary shelters or staying with family, Ricardo Mata, head of emergency services in Veracruz, told local media.

More people were being evacuated from low-lying towns in the northern part of Veracruz as a precaution, Manuel Escalera, spokesman for the state’s emergency services, told Reuters news agency.

Because of Ingrid, several towns in Tamaulipas cancelled plans for Independence Day celebrations on Sunday night, local media reported.

Usually Mexicans flock to their town square to hear local officials give the call to arms known as El Grito, an
echo of Miguel Hidalgo’s original call to arms against the Spanish in 1810.