At least 109 people were killed and dozens more were still unaccounted for after Hurricane Pauline pounded the southern coast of Mexico, devastating the tourist resort of Acapulco.
Mr Juan Lauequi, transport chief in Acapulco, said the death toll in the city was 89. Another five people were reported dead in the same state of Guerrero, and in the neighbouring states of Oaxaca and Chiapas 15 others died.
The storms flattened some Oaxacan towns and hotels on Zipolite, a popular foreign tourist beach. A Televisa television correspondent on the Oaxacan coast said three German tourists who had been staying at Zipolite were missing.
The onslaught of torrential rain early yesterday turned Acapulco's popular tourist strip and other streets into fierce rivers. Acapulco's victims included five adults who were drowned in flooded streets along with a homeless child who had sought refuge under a bridge, the private radio station Radio Red reported. A woman and child were killed when a building on the outskirts of the city collapsed in winds gusting up to 190 km (120 miles) per hour.
"It is the worst disaster I have ever seen," said Mr David Sotelo, chairman of Acapulco's town council.
The city's power supply and telephone communications were completely cut off by the storm. The airport and port were closed.
Witnesses said that rescue teams were searching for more victims in the five worst hit sections of the city, which included the tourist hotel zone. Bodies were floating in floodwater and had yet to be transported to the city morgue, they said.
Sixty per cent of hotels suffered significant damage, officials said, and tourists were barricaded inside their rooms. Some 5,000 people who had lost their homes were taken to 13 temporary refuges.
Hundreds of cars were swept away, dozens of trees uprooted along with telephone and power lines and dozens of small boats sank in the harbour.