Mexico storm death toll rises to 110

Mexico City. The number of people confirmed to have died as a result of Tropical Storms Manuel and Ingrid in Mexico now stands at 110, the interior minister says.

Monday, September 23, 2013
Many rural communities remain cut off, making it difficult to assess the overall damage. Net photo.

Mexico City. The number of people confirmed to have died as a result of Tropical Storms Manuel and Ingrid in Mexico now stands at 110, the interior minister says.Another 68 are still missing, believed dead, after a landslide destroyed the village of La Pintada in western Guerrero state.President Enrique Pena Nieto asked Congress to increase the federal budget in light of the emergency.Officials are still trying to evaluate the total extent of the damage."We are confronting rainfall that has practically been the most extensive in the history of the entire national territory,” President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Sunday. "Today we can already anticipate that due to the damages that we have seen, our [emergency] funds are insufficient.”Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said work was under way to establish which areas were worst affected by Tropical Storm Manuel which hit Mexico’s western coast, and Ingrid, which made landfall on its eastern coast last week.Twenty-four out of Mexico’s 31 states have been affected by the twin storms."There’s no point in the government offering us kind words and nothing else,” Alicia Sanchez told the Associated Press news agency."They’ve made us promises but I don’t think they’ll keep them,” the Acapulco resident said.Acapulco’s international airport re-opened for commercial flights on Sunday, a week after it had to close due to power cuts and flooding.