Hurricane Ingrid hits Mexico after twin storms kill 21

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (AFP) – Hurricane Ingrid weakened to a tropical storm as it crossed Mexico's northeastern coast Monday, one day after 21 people died when another storm struck the opposite side of the country.

Ingrid made landfall near La Pesca in the state of Tamaulipas, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 miles (100 kilometers) per hour and threatening to spark flash floods and mudslides, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Thousands of people were evacuated from towns on the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts over the weekend as Ingrid and Tropical Storm Manuel set off landslides and floods that damaged bridges and homes.

The last time the country was hit by two tropical storms in the span of 24 hours was in 1958, according to National Weather Service coordinator Juan Manuel Caballero.

Manuel dissipated overnight after unleashing floods that brought as much as three-foot (one-meter) high water in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, dragging away cars and forcing some residents to take refuge on top floors of homes.

Emergency personnel said rescue missions were complicated because the rising waters brought out crocodiles.

At least 11 of the 21 deaths were in Acapulco, including a family of six people whose home was crushed by a landslide. Five others were killed when a wall collapsed in the port city.

The city's international airport was closed and the highway linking Mexico City to Acapulco was shut down due to landslides and flooding in the southwestern state of Guerrero. Authorities hoped to reopened both later Monday.

Some 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the state, while more than 20,000 households lost power.

"For the moment, there are officially 21 people dead," national civil protection chief Luis Felipe Puente told a news conference late Sunday.

In addition to the 11 dead in Acapulco, a woman was killed by a landslide elsewhere in Guerrero, while a man and a child died in a landslide in the state capital Chilpancingo, Puente said.

Guerrero state civil protection official Constantino Gonzales Vargas told AFP that six people died in a road accident due to slippery conditions, but Puente did not report these fatalities.

In the central state of Hidalgo, a nurse and her driver drowned when their car was swept away by an overflowing river, civil protection officials there said. Another woman died in a landslide.

Three people, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed in a landslide in Tlatlauquitepec, a mountain town in central state of Puebla.

Puente reported another storm-related death in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Ingrid forced several towns to cancel independence day celebrations in Tamaulipas.

State-run energy firm Pemex evacuated three oil platforms off the Gulf coast of the northeastern state of Tamaulipas and shut down 24 wells.

The former hurricane had already forced the evacuation of 6,000 people in the east coast state of Veracruz after two rivers overflowed their banks.