Hurricane Otis tears through Mexico's Acapulco as category 4 storm

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Hurricane Otis ripped through the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco as a Category 4 storm early on Wednesday, battering hotels and sending tourists running for cover as it pummeled the southern Pacific coast with torrential rain and high winds.

Videos broadcast on social media showed rooms wrecked by the passing of the hurricane, ceilings and walls rent open and cars partly submerged in floodwaters as the southern state of Guerrero awoke to the disarray left in Otis' wake.

Mexico's civil protection authorities reported power outages throughout Guerrero, while flights to and from Acapulco were suspended and classes cancelled due to Otis, one of the most powerful storms to hit the country's Pacific Coast.

At around 0600 local time (1200 GMT), Otis was 60 miles (100 km) north-northwest of Acapulco, having weakened rapidly as it moved inland. However, it was still blowing winds of 110 miles per hour, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The hurricane was downgraded from Category 5 earlier in the day and is expected to dissipate over the coming 24 hours. In the meantime it is bringing heavy rainfall and flash flooding with hurricane-force winds into wide swathes of southern Mexico.

Otis could bring up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in parts of Guerrero and Oaxaca states, mudslides, a "potentially catastrophic" storm surge, and life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, authorities said.

Mexico's national water agency CONAGUA warned of six-to-eight-meter surf off Guerrero and parts of Oaxaca.

In Guerrero, authorities opened storm shelters, and the National Guard was ready for rescues and evacuations.

The Defense Ministry enacted a disaster plan ahead of the storm's arrival, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said late on Tuesday, as soldiers patrolled Acapulco's emptying beaches. — Reuters