The devastating impact of the category 5 hurricane Otis on Mexico’s pacific coast

This study analyzes the observed damage along the Pacific coast of Mexico, mainly in the city of Acapulco, caused by Hurricane Otis. This hurricane landed as a Category 5 storm at 00:45 (local time) on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, with sustained winds of 270 km/h, gusts reaching 330 km/h, and a north-northwest translation at 15 km/h. The hurricane rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane within a few hours, giving almost no time for the residents to prepare. The city of Acapulco and its neighboring towns suffered severe damage to their infrastructure, housing, and essential services. The main access roads to Acapulco were affected for several days. Nearly 80% of more than 250 existing hotels were affected by different levels of damage. There were 274,000 homes, 47,627 businesses, and 1,224 schools with minor to severe intensity of damage. The direct economic impact of the event was estimated at USD 15 billion. The official death toll comprises 52 casualties and 32 missing people. The hurricane demonstrated that wind speeds can exceed the design threshold of 150 km/h (i.e., 3s gust speed at 10 m height) established in the Acapulco Building Code by more than a factor of two-an exceedance that occurred twice during the event. This paper presents the impacts of Hurricane Otis on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Most of the observed damage was attributed to extremely high wind speeds associated with the rapid intensification of the hurricane, combined with building code shortcomings and deficiencies in construction quality. For example, inadequate construction techniques according to the observed intensities, such as using non-structural elements with poor resistance to high wind speeds, design or construction deficiencies in connections, accumulated damage, lack of maintenance, and the impact of wind-borne debris. The findings emphasize the urgent need for revising local building codes to account for extreme wind events and diverse risk scenarios.