Hurricane Otis – latest: Fears grow for people still missing in Acapulco after storm killed 27

Nearly a quarter of a million power customers in Acapulco — in a city of 1 million — are still without power following the devastating Hurricane Otis.

The storm made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 5 storm and destroyed much of the city, leaving much of its residents in the dark as crews continue to work to restore power.

More than 13,000 federal troops have been deployed to the city to help manage the relief efforts, though many living in Acapulco have been forced to turn to looting to find basic provisions as they await assistance.

Residents in Acapulco expressed their desperation two days after Hurricane Otis made landfall as a Category 5 storm, leaving much of the city without power and many with no means of buying food or procuring potable water.

“Nobody has helped us,” José Castro, a 29-year-old graphic designer who is stranded in the city told the LA Times. “Really, this has been the worst experience of my life.”

Amalia Garrido, 63, who was visiting the city to celebrate her grandson’s birthday when the storm hit, said she was “afraid.”

There is no water here, there is no food,” she told the LA Times. “People are stealing everywhere.”

She recalled seeing the destruction of the city’s hotel district in the wake of the storm.

“It makes you want to cry because everything is so ugly, so destroyed,” she said.

Officials put the death toll at 27 people – although there are fears it could be higher as a desperate search for loved ones continued.

‘Many people had their roofs fall on them, others were crushed by palm trees. The government never warned of the hurricane’.

Two days after Hurricane Otis made landfall in Acapulco as a Category 5 storm, hundreds are reportedly still searching for their missing loved ones among the rubble.

Arturo Villalobos told Noticias Telemundo that he was still trying to contact his wife and four children.

“I’m in another state, I can’t do anything,” he said. “I just want to know how they are.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said “even though the death of any person is unfortunate, there weren’t very many,” during a press conference on Friday. The official death count from the storm has not changed from the initial report of 27 killed, but there have been reports of unrecovered bodies in parts of the city that may eventually add to that count, according to NBC News.

In the meantime, those with missing loved ones in the city have taken to online messaging platforms to post the names and photos of indivudals in the hope that other posters have seen them alive in the city.

Mexican government officials reportedly began going door-to-door in Acapulco on Friday to assess the needs of residents struggling after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Otis on Wednesday.

The Category 5 storm left half of the city without power, and many with no means of procuring food or potable water.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said 10,000 “packages” of appliances and home goods including refrigerators, stoves, and mattresses have been collected by the government for disbursment to residents in need.

The population of Acapulco is approximately 1 million.