In photos: Hurricane Otis devastates Acapulco, Mexico
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Damage from Hurricane Otis on a a shopping mall in Acapulco, Mexico, on Oct. 25. Photo: Oscar Guerrero Ramirez/Getty Images
Hurricane Otis made landfall directly on Acapulco, Mexico, as a violent Category 5 storm on Wednesday, killing at least 27 people and causing extensive damage to the beach resort city.
The big picture: The storm and the flooding it brought with it knocked out electricity and communications for thousands of Acapulco's 780,000 residents, sheared walls from buildings, blew out windows and set off landslides that blocked the city's main highway.
- Before making landfall, Otis intensified at one of the fastest rates on record for the region, strengthening from a tropical storm to a Category 5 storm in just 24 hours, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.
- Otis, which was described by the National Hurricane Center as a "nightmare scenario," caught forecasters off guard, as it was expected to make landfall as Category 1.
- Studies have shown that this extreme intensification is enabled by warmer ocean waters, the number one driver of which is human-caused climate change.
Of note: Otis may have also set a grim record for the largest population to experience Category 5 winds in a single storm.
In photos: Hurricane Otis' impact on Acapulco
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Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional photos.
