Some 400 people died and 20,000 were left homeless after Hurricane Pauline's murderous swing through the tropical resort of Acapulco and the coast of southern Mexico, the Red Cross said yesterday.
The organisation's estimate was substantially higher than government estimates. State officials had previously put the death toll across three states at around 128, though they said hundreds more were missing.
Thousands of people were stranded without food, drinking water or homes in this once-glittering tourist paradise. As the extent of the hurricane disaster became clear, residents criticised the official rescue effort, saying authorities were doing too little too late.
"The figures we have are about 400 dead and 20,000 homeless," Mr Jose Barroso, head of the Mexican Red Cross, told a news conference in Mexico City. But the final death toll would not be known until floodwaters drained off the disaster areas. "We don't know what's underwater," he said.
President Ernesto Zedillo cut short a state visit to Germany to rush back and supervise relief efforts. More than 6,000 troops were drafted in to help and the Red Cross sent truck convoys carrying tonnes of supplies down the main highway from Mexico City to Acapulco.
But in the disaster area, residents, media and opposition politicians said the government was not moving fast enough. Mr Justino Gomez, huddled with his family of four at an official rescue shelter after losing his home, said: "It's a disgrace. They bring us here and there's practically no water and we've only eaten one sandwich all day."
Mud, several feet deep in some places, covered virtually the whole of Acapulco. Cars were stacked on top of each other.
In Colonia Progreso, a poor neighbourhood still under several feet of mud from the flooding, women, old men and children worked frantically trying to dig a tunnel through the debris so that fresh rainwater could drain away.
The hurricane that had caused all the damage dissipated in Jalisco state, south-west of Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara, the Mexican Weather Service said.