MEXICO CITY, (PNA/Xinhua) — The first flight to Mexico City from the swamped airport in Acapulco city took off on Tuesday to evacuate some stranded tourists, Interjet airline reported.
Two of Mexico’s largest airlines, Interjet and Aeromexico, are running flights to the swamped airport. Families with small children, elderly members or women are given priority boarding, airline officials said.
Around 40,000 tourists, many of whom traveling from Mexico City for holiday weekend, got stranded in Acapulco by flooding and landslides that shut down the highway to Mexico City and swamped the airport caused by storm Manuel, according to Mexico’s federal civil protection.
Officials worked overnight to reopen the highway and airport and to bring relief supplies into the city. Main highways to Acapulco will be opened on Wednesday after the dirt on road is cleaned up, federal officials said.
According to Mexico’s federal civil protection, the death toll rose to 47 Tuesday from two powerful storms Ingrid and Manuel, which also affected at least 1.2 million people nationwide.
The economic losses in Guerrero state caused by the two storms were estimated at about 5 billion pesos (386.9 million U.S. dollars), the state governor said.
Storm Manuel will continue to batter Mexico’s southwestern coast with the possibility of regaining force in the following 24 to 48 hours, the National Weather Service said.