Insider Blog: Hurricane Otis slams Acapulco, Mexico

Just after midnight, local time, on October 25th, 2023, a historic, major category 5 hurricane slammed the Acapulco metropolitan area. The National Hurricane Center described the situation as 'a nightmare scenario for southern Mexico'.

The storm rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a catastrophic category 5 hurricane in just 12 hours. Winds in the center of the storm strengthened more than 100mph in just 24 hours, an intensification only surpassed in modern history by Hurricane Patricia in 2015.

So far, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said there were no immediate reports of deaths from the storm, but cautioned that authorities were struggling to get updates.