Authorities have been gradually restoring power and phone service, but food, water and cash are still scarce and thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed to help recovery efforts in the biggest city of the southern state of Guerrero.
Saravia said she last heard from her mother at 11.40 p.m. local time on Tuesday, shortly before Otis swept into Acapulco, capsizing boats on the city’s iconic waterfront, and ripping roofs and sidings off homes, hotels and other businesses.
Her mother, younger brother and son had been with her father, a fisherman and sailor, on his boat when the storm hit, sinking the vessel, she related.
“He said he had them, but the pressure of the water and force of the wind took them away from him,” she added.
Her elder brother, a boat captain, was on a separate vessel of which there has been no sign since the hurricane, she said. The missing relatives went to the boats because they had orders from their bosses to look after them, Saravia said.
“It’s a horrible feeling not knowing where they are,” she added mournfully. “We haven’t had any support from any authority either, from the government, nothing.”
The Mexican government’s civil protection authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.