Message #41345

[Psalm 51:17]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/22/20623469-death-toll-from-mexican-hurricanes-surpasses-100-as-search-for-missing-continues?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1
9/22/13
Death toll from Mexican hurricanes surpasses 100 as search for missing continues

Emergency crews in Mexico continued to search for victims of Hurricanes Manuel and Ingrid on Sunday after the death toll from the storms that battered the coast of Mexico this week rose to at least 110.

The twin storms unleashed torrential rain that led to floods and mudslides starting last Sunday.  More than 1 million people have been affected across the country, and 50,000 have been evacuated from their homes.

The official death toll was increased to 101 at a news conference late Friday, but that number did not include crew members aboard a Federal Police helicopter that disappeared Thursday while aiding rescue efforts in La Pintada, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico.

At least three crew members aboard the aircraft  were found dead, a Mexican government spokesman said on Saturday, according to The Associated Press. On Sunday two more, likely rescue workers, were reported dead in the incident.

Sixty-eight residents of La Pintada remained missing after a massive landslide, authorities said.

On Sunday, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto said the death toll was at "110 or 115." He said Mexico's Congress would revise its budget in response to the storm.

Nieto called for a quick state-by-state evaluation of damage to be overseen by the country's interior minister that "will allow us to add resources beyond those already budgeted for contingency and disaster funds to rebuild infrastructure that has sadly been lost."

In the state of Guerrero alone, more than 22,000 homes have sustained damage in 59 principalities, Guerrero State Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero said according to Mexican newspaper El Sol de Acapulco.  The extent of the damage in the region has left more than 20,000 people in shelters.