Hurricane Otis, one of the strongest storms ever to hit Mexico's Pacific Coast, roared into the beach resort of Acapulco early on Wednesday, smashing buildings and vital infrastructure and leaving the city incommunicado and without power, El.kz cites Reuters.
Footage on social media showed hotels wrecked by Otis, ceilings and walls ripped open, windows shattered and cars partly submerged in floodwaters as the rare Category 5 storm barreled ashore in the southern state of Guerrero.
Debris was strewn around lobbies, patios, streets and hotel balconies, and remnants of mangled trees littered downtown Acapulco. Downed telecommunication lines and damage to infrastructure left residents cut off from the outside world.
The airport for the city of nearly 900,000 people was closed until further notice, the transport ministry said, after it lost power and nearby roads were blocked due to Otis.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador set off for Acapulco by car to lend support, but was held up due to road closures caused by the storm, video footage on social media showed.
There were no immediate reports of fatalities, but the power outages made it hard for officials to assess the extent of the destruction. Some officials privately expressed concern that Otis would likely have caused some loss of life.