ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — The death toll from devastating twin storms appeared set to nearly double after officials said late Wednesday that 58 people were missing and presumed dead in a massive landslide that smashed through a tiny coffee-growing village deep in the mountains of southern Mexico.
The storm that devastated the Pacific coast over the weekend regained strength Wednesday and became Hurricane Manuel, taking a route that could see it make landfall on Mexico's northwestern coast. It would be a third blow to a country still reeling from the one-two punch of Manuel's first landfall and Hurricane Ingrid on Mexico's eastern coast.
Federal officials raised the death toll from Manuel 60 to 80 earlier Wednesday. They said they were not yet declaring the 58 dead in the village of La Pintada several hours north of Acapulco, but the governor of storm-battered Guerrero state said it was likely they had perished.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Manuel had become a relatively small hurricane that was hugging Mexico's coast late Wednesday and expected to produce 75 mph winds and between 5 and 10 inches of rain over the state of Sinaloa. Sinaloa state civil protection authorities said some areas were already flooding and dozens were evacuated in an area of small fishing villages.