Because of climate change, tropical cyclones are becoming more intense. In Mexico, hurricane “Agatha” claims several lives, there are floods and landslides.
After Hurricane Agatha passed through, the death toll in Oaxaca, Mexico, has risen to at least eleven.
Another 21 people are missing, the governor of the southern Mexican state, Alejandro Murat, told Radio Fórmula. Some high-altitude communities on the coast and in the mountainous Sierra Sur region are particularly affected. Some of them are still without electricity and telephone connection.
As the first hurricane of the season, the unusually strong cyclone made landfall near several beach resorts on Mexico’s Pacific coast on Monday. According to the authorities, it caused flooding and landslides. The state electricity provider CFE announced that the electricity had failed at a good 70,000 connections.
According to Murat, schools on the coast and in the Sierra Sur should remain closed today. As it continues to rain, there could be more landslides and river crossings.
As a category two out of five hurricane with wind speeds of up to 165 kilometers per hour, “Agatha” was the strongest storm to make landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast in May since records began in 1949, according to the US hurricane center NHC as a result, “Agatha” moved inland, losing strength along the way. On Tuesday, the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression and dissipated.
The hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30 in the Pacific and June 1 to November 30 in the Atlantic. According to experts, climate change is likely to cause tropical cyclones to become more intense.
