Hurricane Agatha kills 10, leaves 20 missing in south Mexico

Mexican authorities say Hurricane Agatha caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 10 people and left 20 missing

Hurricane Agatha caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 10 people and left 20 missing, the Governor of the southern state of Oaxaca said on May 31.

Governor Alejando Murat said rivers overflowed their banks and swept away people in homes, while other victims were buried under mud and rocks.

“There were fundamentally two reasons” for the deaths, Mr. Murat told local media. “There were rivers that overflowed, and on the other hand, and the most serious part, were landslides.”

Mr. Murat said the deaths appeared to be concentrated in a number of small towns in the mountains, just inland from the coast. But he said there were also reports of three children missing near the resort of Huatulco.

Agatha made history as the strongest hurricane ever recorded to come ashore in May during the eastern Pacific hurricane season.

It made landfall on Monday afternoon on a sparsely populated stretch of small beach towns and fishing villages in Oaxaca.

It was a strong Category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, but it quickly lost power moving inland over the mountainous interior. Remnants of Agatha were moving northeast on Tuesday into Veracruz state.