VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Megan Abundis
Hurricane Otis hit last week in Acapulco, Mexico and pummeled the popular resort town's buildings and infrastructure.
One family who lives in the KC metro area still has many ties to the city.
“My name is Graciano Arturo Martinez, I am from Acapulco, Mexico."
Graciano and his daughter, Gisela Puenrostro, have many memories of Acapulco and much of their family still lives there.
“It holds a lot of memories for me growing up,” Martinez said. “Acapulco was like Cancun now, a lot of resorts, a lot of hotels, really nice streets, clean. Acapulco was a paradise, not only for me, but for other people.”
Martinez first opened a fruit stand in Mexico.
It was his love of the sweet flavors that led him to open up a counter inside Oak Park Mall’s food court.
He opened Acapulco Paradise three years ago.
Martinez said his kitchen's flavors are to honor his hometown.
“It is a beautiful paradise, but not right now,” said his daughter, Gisela, Acapulco Paradise's general manager.
Hurricane Otis ripped the town apart.
Storm surges overwhelmed roads and forced people to wade through deep, murky water.
Graciano tried to contact his loved ones.
“It was hard to speak for three days," he said. "We didn’t know anything about it. We need a lot of help. People don’t have food, gas, electricity, no water.”
He showed KSHB 41 photos of crumpled homes.
“It’s destroyed, completely destroyed,” he said.
There is a shortage of an important product to protect vulnerable residents from disease.
“They are asking to send mosquito repellent because of all of the accumulation of water in the ponds,” Gisela said. “It’s going to take time and a lot of support from a lot of people.”
There is an effort for many people to leave the damaged city.
"Many people trying to leave from Acapulco right now because they can't survive," Gisela said. "So some of my brothers are picking up family from Acapulco to bring to Mexico City."
They encourage supporting the people of Acapulco by donating to the Red Cross Mexico.
https://www.cruzrojamexicana.org.mx/causa/detalle/65
“It’s been just hard. "I’ve seen how a beautiful place can change in just a few minutes,” Gisela said.
