Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, expressed concern on Wednesday about drinking water supplies in the country’s west after Hurricane John hit the Pacific coast, killing at least 16 people.
“The most urgent needs are drinking water supplies and clearing the roads,” Sheinbaum said during her first trip from Mexico City to Acapulco, which was hit hard by the storm.
Sheinbaum visited the area on just the second day of her term with members of her Cabinet “to support emergency personnel and get essential supplies to the people,” she said on social network X.
From her car, she listened as a resident explained how she had already lost her business to the deadly Hurricane Otis, which hit Acapulco last year.
Sheinbaum also warned residents to be aware of a new tropical depression expected to make landfall soon, bringing heavy rains to the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
“We are asking residents to move away from rivers, seek higher ground, move closer to evacuation centers and follow instructions from authorities,” she said.
John made landfall last week as a Category 3 hurricane before barreling down the coast for several days and making landfall again as a tropical storm.
It left parts of Acapulco, the beachside city that was once a playground for the rich and famous, completely submerged.
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