Nearly two years have passed since Hurricane Otis transformed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 12 hours, devastating Mexico's coastal city of Acapulco in an unprecedented natural disaster. Then, in September 2024, Hurricane John delivered another blow to the still-recovering city. 

Today, Acapulco exists as a city caught between its glamorous past and an uncertain future – a metropolis in transition, where people are rebuilding not only infrastructure but also their lives, in the grim knowledge that storms like Otis may become increasingly likely as ocean temperatures continue to rise.

For tourists visiting the famous Costera Miguel Alemán, things may appear to be business as usual. Palm trees have been replanted up and down the boulevard and the majority of hotels have finally reopened their doors. But for many of the one million people who live in and around the city, the scars of both hurricanes remain visible.

Anna De Alberti was asleep when Otis hit, producing winds of up to 165mph during landfall. The storm underwent one of the most extreme rapid intensification events ever recorded, accelerating by about 110 mph in just 24 hours — a phenomenon scientists say is a symptom of the human-caused climate crisis.

Anna's home is in Praderas de Costa Azul, at the top of what locals call 'the amphitheatre'; a steep set of mountains that huddle around Acapulco's semicircular bay.

Acapulco's amphitheatre-like topography is what makes the city so striking, but also uniquely vulnerable to the kind of devastation Otis delivered. The mountainous terrain funnels and amplifies wind speeds whilst concentrating storm surge and rainfall. Mountain slopes also create additional threats as heavy rains trigger landslides that can cascade into densely populated areas below.

The night Otis landed, De Alberti and her mother spent the night fearing the mountain would give way in a landslide. "The noise we spent all night listening to was the spookiest thing I've ever heard," she told bne IntelliNews.

Otis left De Alberti's home with broken windows, no power and infrastructure damage so severe it became uninhabitable. She is one of an estimated 250,000 families initially left homeless by Otis. Today, that number remains unknown – though De Alberti has still not been able to return home owing to the damage her property sustained. Instead, she and her mother are staying in the property of a friend. "My life dynamic has changed because I've lost it all. There is nothing I can call mine anymore. No fridge, no couch, no beds."

Brenda Ávila Flores, a programme coordinator at the Red Cross in Acapulco, says that since Otis and John, one of the main problems the aid organisation has been helping with locally is post-traumatic stress disorder.

"People had never experienced an event of such magnitude and impact on their families, homes, and livelihoods," she told bne IntelliNews.

After Otis hit, the Red Cross's response was extensive, beginning with immediate search and rescue operations and deployment of medical units to provide critical care. The organisation opened collection centres across Mexico and assembled humanitarian aid boxes containing food, hygiene kits, and essential supplies for distribution.

As the emergency phase gave way to recovery, the organisation established community kitchens, provided psychosocial support to traumatised residents, and helped families reconnect with missing relatives. "The [hurricane’s] impact on their perceptions was immeasurable," said Flores. "We built trust that allowed us to remain in the community for over a year, reinforcing the principle of strengthening a resilient community."

Although recovery efforts have made significant progress, another issue, according to Flores, is the massive task of rebuilding the city's tourism infrastructure and restoring economic stability. Otis damaged 80% of the hotel infrastructure and 96% of businesses in a city that lives mostly from tourism. "In Acapulco, tourism has been the main source of income. Since the hurricane, many businesses have closed, limiting access to formal employment with decent wages," said Flores. 

The tourism sector, which accounts for approximately 73% of Acapulco's workforce and once employed hundreds of thousands directly and indirectly, has struggled to regain its pre-Otis momentum. Major hotel chains have the resources to rebuild quickly, but small businesses — family-run restaurants, local tour operators and street vendors — that gave Acapulco its authentic character have proved far more fragile.

Street food vendors lost not just their equipment but their customer base as tourist numbers plummeted. Beach service providers saw their boats destroyed. For grassroots businesses in particular, recovery has meant starting from zero without the same safety nets available to larger organisations.

Enrique José Castro Soto, 46, is a former public official who served as secretary of economy for Guerrero from 2011 to 2014. Today, he is president of Canirac, the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry in the state of Guerrero.

"The pandemic, Hurricane Otis, and Hurricane John have been major blows to Acapulco," he told bne IntelliNews. "Ninety-five per cent of businesses were affected in their infrastructure or facilities, which prevented them from opening for at least three months."

The recovery process has been complex, Castro Soto explains. "I think we still see the impacts — maybe not so much in the restaurants, but definitely in the hotels and condominiums. These parts of Acapulco are still very damaged."

Both Hurricane Otis and Hurricane John demonstrated the hallmarks of climate change-amplified storms. Otis underwent what meteorologists called "explosive intensification”, strengthening by 115 mph in just 24 hours over abnormally warm ocean waters of 31°C.

This rapid intensification caught forecasters and residents completely off guard, leaving little time for preparation. Hurricane John, which struck in September 2024, followed a similar pattern, initially forecast as a modest tropical storm before rapidly intensifying to Category 3 strength in just 18 hours and making landfall near Punta Maldonado.

Scientists emphasise that such rapid intensification events are becoming more frequent due to warming oceans caused by climate change. More than 90% of global warming over the past 50 years has occurred in the oceans, providing hurricanes with more energy to strengthen quickly and dramatically.

This article is part of a series on the impact of the Climate Crisis on major cities around the world. 

The other articles in the series are: 

Cities confront the rising tide of climate change

Taipei’s climate countdown

Jakarta’s sinking villages

Rising seas threaten India’s coastal cities

Adapting the concrete heart of São Paulo to a changing climate