Hurricane Otis Strikes Acapulco Bay
On October 25, Hurricane Otis made landfall in Acapulco Bay with powerful winds reaching speeds of 165 mph. Among the chaos, sailor Ruben Torres managed to record a 10-second audio message from his yacht, the Sereno.
"All things considered I'm alright, but it's really horrible, it's really horrible, it's really horrible," he said amidst the howling wind and the boat's beeping alarms. "Family, I don't want to exaggerate, but pray for us because it's really awful out here."
According to Mexico's Navy, the Sereno was one of 614 boats, including yachts, ferries, and fishing boats, that were in the bay that night. Unfortunately, the boat sustained damage and both Torres and the boat's captain are currently missing, with only one survivor from the Sereno.
Officially, Hurricane Otis has claimed the lives of at least 48 people, most of whom drowned, and 26 individuals remain missing. However, sailors, fishermen, and their families believe that the actual number of casualties is much higher.
In this region, it is common for sailors to board their boats during storms instead of seeking safety on land. This allows them to bring their boats to sheltered parts of Acapulco Bay, protecting them from potential damage caused by storms slamming them against docks.
However, Otis was not an ordinary storm. When sailors set sail that day, they had no idea that the tropical storm would rapidly intensify into a Category 5 hurricane within 12 hours and directly hit Acapulco, leaving no part of the bay safe.
Susana Ramos, the wife of Ruben Torres, received her husband's message only days later.
"The sound of air hissing"
Torres' family knew his routine when a hurricane approached: He would go aboard to help take care of the boat, and the crew would sail it near the naval base, an area that was more protected by the surrounding mountains. Ramos prepared dry clothing for his return.
At around 7 p.m. on October 24, Torres spoke to his oldest son, who is now 14. Ramos overheard him describing the situation at that time, with entire hillsides in Acapulco going dark as the power started to fail. However, Torres assured them that he had his lifejacket ready and the engines running, just in case.
Hours later, the family's home began to flood. Buckets of water were pouring in. "The walls seemed like they were crying," Ramos said. But the most frightening part was "the sound of air hissing" above their heads, similar to the screeching of a tire, along with the creaking of the house.
She remembered that her husband always said not to fear the water, but to fear the wind.
When Torres recorded his final message asking his family to pray for him, a dozen members were huddled inside the concrete house.
A "mega tornado"
Otis' damage on land was evident at first light. The city awoke isolated, without power, phone signal or water. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed, entire neighborhoods flooded, luxury hotels were hollowed out without walls or windows. Trees, power poles and debris were everywhere.
Details of the situation at sea have trickled in more slowly.
Alejandro Martínez Sidney, a business leader and member of a fishing cooperative, has been hearing the accounts of surviving sailors. He said they were caught by surprise at the storm's sudden strength. An alert went out about 10 p.m. on the night before Otis made landfall, telling sailors to beach their boats.
"It was too late," Martínez Sidney said.
Many, like Torres, had already sailed to what were believed to be more protected parts of the bay. Others, who didn't want to damage their boats by beaching them, followed suit but ended up trapped in a whirlpool in the middle of bay, he said survivors told him.
It was like a "mega tornado" that devoured them, Martínez Sidney said.
The aftermath
Ramos was worried. The next day she crossed 8 miles of devastated cityscape – walking through mud, riding a motorcycle, and hitching rides on trucks -- to reach the Sereno's dock.
Seeing boats aground on Acapulco's waterfront boulevard shook her. Looking out to the bay, the boats looked like old, wrecked toys, she said.
Shouting her husband's name, she pushed through other families looking for their loved ones. She was taken to see six bodies that had been recovered. None was from the Sereno.
Then she started to check hospitals, lists of dead and missing that began to circulate. She went to the naval base, the morgue. There she had just enough battery on her phone to show them a photo of Torres.
She said that when she heard an official say that if they confirmed anything they would call her, she understood that she would have to be the one to look for him.
Several days later, when power and a phone signal began to return sporadically in some areas, she finally got her husband's message. It made her feel powerless.
"It's so heartbreaking for me to have that last message," she said.
Desperate search
Sailors and fishermen immediately started searching in whatever craft remained seaworthy. Sometimes they had to siphon gasoline from parked cars for their motors.
Some yacht owners, like that of the Sereno, rented boats and small planes to search while also getting necessities to crew members' families who had lost everything.
Ramos and her brother-in-law crisscrossed Acapulco on a motorcycle, chasing rumors of survivors. A crew member from the Sereno was found alive on an island in the bay.
The sailor recounted to Ramos with tears how they all jumped into the water wearing lifejackets. He managed to hold onto a floating marine fender, a device from the boat that saved his life.
Families are demanding that authorities take charge of the search because they have better equipment.
Enrique Andrade, a teacher who is searching for his younger sister Abigail, who was on board a ship called the Litos, stated that he has been accompanying the Navy, divers, and agents from the state prosecutor's office on search efforts. He mentioned that they have only found "a little door" from the Litos.
Andrade criticized the authorities for not doing enough to warn the crew members. He said, "The Navy knew what was coming, the sea terminals knew too, and they still didn't share the information soon enough."
The Navy has recovered 67 small boats, but there are still over 500 more boats longer than 40 feet, according to Captain Alejandro Alexandres González, who spoke to reporters during one of the search operations.
Hoping for a "miracle"
Ramos now visits the morgue daily, where samples of her children's DNA have been taken. She also keeps her cell phone by a window in her home, where there is sometimes a signal, in case there is any news about her husband's whereabouts.
Sleeping in her mother's embrace and thinking about her children has given her strength.
After the devastating hurricane Otis, the small grocery store that the woman had rented to support her husband's efforts to pay off their debts and live in a safer neighborhood was among the many businesses that were looted by desperate residents. Despite the loss, she tries to remain hopeful and believes that she can start over.
During an interview, the woman shared photos of her youngest daughter's 10th birthday party, which they had celebrated just a week before the hurricane hit. She revealed that her daughter had kept her eyes on the door, hoping that her father would return.
As her husband's 33rd birthday approaches on November 17th, the woman holds onto hope that she will receive news about his whereabouts. She expresses her longing for any information, even if it's just to know that he is alive. She dreams of a miracle where they would tell her that he is in the hospital and she can bring him back home.
