Mexico's Ministry of the Interior declared 56 municipalities as a Natural Disaster Zone in the state of Guerrero due to the rains that hit the region since last Sept. 14.
According to CNN, the declaration was made on Tuesday, Sept. 17, when local and federal officials determined that these municipalities suffered great damages in their infrastructure.
The rains caused by storms "Manuel" and "Ingrid" over the weekend have left 57 dead in Mexican soil, according to Federal figures. However, local governments affirm that the figure could rise in the next hours.
According to CNN, the Mexican National Meteorological Service (SMN) informed on Wednesday that tropical depression Manuel is regenerating with the probability of intensifying and becoming a tropical cyclone. Manuel is now located 190 km southeast of Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California Sur.
It is estimated that in the next few hours, strong storms will arrive in Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Campeche, Yucatán, Nuevo León and Quintana Roo.
Besides the 56 municipalities declared Natural Disaster Zones in Guerrero, the Ministry of the Interior informed that eight municipalities in Veracruz, two in Chihuahua and 11 in Oaxaca were also declared Natural Disaster Zones, reporting severe damages in over 90 highways in the states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Durango, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, Jalisco and Colima, informed local source Sin Embargo this morning.
The same source reports that the Minister of the Interior of Mexico, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, informed that, by yesterday afternoon, the number of people evacuated numbered 39,000, of which 23,000 remain in shelters.
The situation has become extreme, given the difficulty to access the affected regions. Up until yesterday, at least 60,000 tourists were stranded in Acapulco after the airport was closed due to intense floods. The rains left highways inoperable, owing to the landslides caused by the storms.
In Acapulco, hundreds of people forced their way into commercial businesses on Paseo de las Naciones Boulevard, which were the first acts of looting reported in the areas.
According to Milenio, the disaster victims forced their way into stores in search of food. However, Federal Police units in the area also received reports of stolen washing machines, flat screen TVs and various appliances.
According to the newspaper, Army and Federal Police units are too busy with rescue efforts to intervene with the looting at the moment.
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