Mexico scrambles to clear mudslides after Hurricane Agatha slammed into land at 105mph

Authorities in Mexico worked overnight into Tuesday to clear highways blocked by mudslides and flooding along the southern coast as Hurricane Agatha barrelled down on the country, bringing record-breaking 150mph winds and torrential rains. 

Hurricane Agatha made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Monday afternoon, touching down with the strong winds on a sparsely populated beach towns and fishing villages in the Oaxaca state on the Pacific coast.

The hurricane quickly lost power as it moved inland over the mountainous interior – and by Monday evening, it weakened to a tropical storm, with its sustained winds down to 70mph.

Agatha is expected to dissipate further by Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), which maintained a warning of life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in Oaxaca state. 

Agatha, the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in May in the eastern Pacific, swept ashore and brought howling winds and downpours that whipped palm trees and drove tourists and residents into shelters.

Rain caused mud and rocks to slide into two highways in Oaxaca, blocking access to at least one area of the state, local authorities said. Mexico’s transportation ministry was working to clear the roads late on Monday evening.

Some towns in Oaxaca were left without electricity, and one transformer exploded, authorities said. Telephone lines were knocked out on Monday, forcing authorities to communicate by radio.

People ride through a flooded avenue in the municipality of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on Monday after Hurricane Agatha made landfall

Hurricane Agatha made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Monday afternoon, touching down with the strong winds on a sparsely populated beach towns and fishing villages in the Oaxaca state on the Pacific coast. Pictured: People ride through a flooded avenue in the municipality of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on Monday

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Fishermen pull a boat to higher ground as Hurricane Agatha moves toward the southern coast of Mexico, in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on Monday

Palm trees are tossed in the wind as Hurricane Agatha lands in the tourist towns of southern Mexico with 105mph winds

Residents along the coast had stocked up on food and water and boarded up windows of homes and businesses as Agatha approached.

Seaports in the area closed and airlines canceled flights.

Authorities opened around 200 storm shelters with room for up to 26,800 people, while hotels provided refuge to the estimated 5,200 national and foreign tourists in the danger zone, as forecasters warned of a dangerous storm surge and flooding from heavy rains.

National emergency officials said they had assembled a task force of more than 9,300 people for the area. 

Oaxaca state’s civil defence agency showed families hustling in a shelter in Pochutla and a rock and mud slide that blocked a motorway.

Agatha is expected to drop a total of 10 to 16 inches (25-41 centimetres) of rain on Oaxaca, with heavy downpours in nearby states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Tabasco and eastern Guerrero, the NHC said. 

‘Storm surge is expected to produce extremely dangerous coastal flooding’ and will be accompanied by ‘large and destructive waves,’ the NHC said.

‘Agatha will produce heavy rains over portions of southern Mexico through Tuesday night,’ as well as ‘life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.’

In Oaxaca and neighboring Chiapas state, ‘life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides may occur,’ the NHC added.

Heavy rain and big waves lashed the beach town of Zipolite, long known for its clothing-optional beach and bohemian vibe.

‘There is a lot of rain and sudden gusts of strong wind,’ said Silvia Ranfagni, manager of the Casa Kalmar hotel in Zipolite. 

Ms Ranfagni, who decided to ride out Agatha at the property, said, ‘You can hear the wind howling.’

Local fishermen hauled their boats up out of the harbors in Puerto Escondido as the storm struck the southern coast of Mexico on Monday

City employees in Huatulco, Mexico, clear the streets of debris before Hurricane Agatha lands in the coastal town on Monday

This satellite image made available by NOAA shows Hurricane Agatha off the Pacific coast of Oaxaca state, Mexico on Monday, May 30, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. EDT

A tourist in Escondido shoots footage of palm trees blowing in the storm’s wind on Monday as the Hurricane makes landfall

Residents boarding up windows on May 29, a day before Hurricane Agatha slammed into the southern coast of Mexico

Tourists in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, film the winds and rain of Hurricane Agatha as the storm makes landfall in southern Mexico on Monday

In the surfing town of Puerto Escondido, to the west, people took shelter and put up plywood to prevent windows from breaking in the strong winds.

The government’s Mexican Turtle Centre – a former slaughterhouse turned conservation centre in Mazunte – closed to visitors because of the hurricane.

Agatha only formed on Sunday and quickly gained power.

It is the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in May in the eastern Pacific, said Jeff Masters, meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections and the founder of Weather Underground.

He said the region’s hurricanes typically get their start from tropical waves coming off the coast of Africa.

‘Since the African monsoon typically does not start producing tropical waves until early or mid-May, there simply aren’t enough initial disturbances to get many eastern Pacific hurricanes in May,’ Mr Masters wrote in an email.

‘In addition, May water temperatures are cooler than they are at the peak of the season and wind shear is typically higher.’

A person walks through a flooded street in the municipality of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on Monday

A man drives his tuk-tuk through a flooded street in the municipality of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on Monday

Waves driven by Hurricane Agatha pound the beaches of Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Officials warned that storm surges could be deadly

A man talks with workers preparing a Puerto Escondido beach for for the coming storm on May 29. Waves had intensified a day before the hurricane made landfall

Palm trees whip in the wind as Hurricane Agatha strikes Huatulco, Mexico, on Monday. The town ordered the closure of all its beaches for the storm

A beach in Huatulco, Mexico, as Hurricane Agatha makes landfall on Monday. The sky turned grey as wind and waves whipped the shoreline

Masters was not sure if Agatha was kicked off by a tropical wave – areas of low pressure that move across the tropics – but the storm benefitted from warm waters and low wind shear.

In Huatulco, municipal authorities had cancelled schools and ordered ‘the absolute closure’ of all beaches and its seven bays, many of which are reachable only by boat.

The government’s Mexican Turtle Center – a former slaughterhouse turned conservation center in Mazunte – announced it was closed to visitors until further notice because of the hurricane.