58 missing in Mexico mudslide

MEXICO. September 19. KAZINFORM Mexico's president said dozens of people are missing after a mudslide that buried homes as Manuel pounded the country's Pacific coast.
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At least 58 people are unaccounted for in the town of Atoyac de Alvarez, Mexican Pesident Enrique Peña Nieto told reporters Wednesday. Kazinform refers to CNN.

The mayor of the town, which is located about 50 miles west of Acapulco, told CNNMexico that 15 bodies had been recovered and at least 70 people remained buried under mud that buried 20 homes.

Manuel, which strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday evening, was one of three storms bringing devastating deluges and flooding to Mexico. At least 80 people were killed in the storms, Mexico's interior ministry said.

In the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, thousands of tourists were stranded.

"Unfortunately, this took us by surprise," Veronica Garcia told CNN en Español. "It rained uncontrollably. The streets flooded and we had to stay inside our beach house."

Garcia said her family was stuck on the home's second floor because of flooding. As if that wasn't enough, they had to face an agonizing decision: who should be rescued?

The Garcias were among some 40,000 tourists left stranded or cut off by weather that has claimed dozens of lives during a holiday weekend.

As the water rose, Garcia and her four family members waited nervously on the upper floor for help, but no rescuers appeared to whisk them to safety.

When local volunteers finally arrived with a small kayak, their relief was short-lived. Rescuers said the boat would only fit two family members.

It was decided that Garcia would be rescued, along with one of her sons.

A second round of agony followed as Garcia spent two days in a shelter before the rest of her family was rescued and everyone was reunited.

The Garcias' story was only one of countless examples of tourists whose vacations were interrupted by severe weather. Mexico was being pummeled from nearly all sides Wednesday as Manuel, the remnants of Hurricane Ingrid, and a new area of low pressure threatened most of the country with flooding or rain.

Mexico's interior ministry said Wednesday that the storms are responsible for at least 80 deaths nationwide.

And a state-by-state tally indicates the toll could be higher.

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