40,000 tourists evacuated from storm-hit Acapulco

Thousands of tourists are being flown out of Acapulco after a tropical storm hit the resort city bringing landslides and floods.

Mexico has suffered 47 deaths since tropical storm Manuel made landfall on Sunday and hurricane Ingrid hit the Gulf coast on Monday. Roads in and out of Acapulco were blocked by landslides, floods and collapsed bridges and the terminal at the city’s international airport was flooded knee-deep.

But with landing strips accessible, emergency flights began arriving today to evacuate 40,000 stranded tourists. Interior secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said 27 people died in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, and 20 more died nationwide.

Federal officials said it could take at least another two days to open the main highway to bring food and relief supplies into the city of more than 800,000 people.

British teacher David Gled, 28, who works in Mexico City, was on a trip to Acapulco with about 30 colleagues. After being stranded in their hotel, he said: “It wasn’t really a holiday, more of an incarceration.”