Pacific coast towns devastated by Kenna

Mexico was yesterday recovering from the devastation wreaked by the Hurricane Kenna – the worst storm in decades – which left at least two people dead and several coastal towns in ruins.

Mexico was yesterday recovering from the devastation wreaked by the Hurricane Kenna – the worst storm in decades – which left at least two people dead and several coastal towns in ruins.

The storm, with winds up to 140mph, hit Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday. As many as 20,000 residents were evacuated beforehand, and are returning to find their homes in ruins.

"It's the worst we could have expected," said Carmen Lopez, 24, sobbing. She returned to her home in San Blas, where the storm hit land, to find her roof in pieces on the ground and her home ankle-deep in water.

"This is a complete disaster zone," said fisherman Luis Antonio Salas, surveying shattered shrimp boats dragged 200 yards from their moorings.

Power lines have been snapped and many people remain without electricity and water. Travel is almost impossible, as toppled trees, telephone poles and other debris block roadways.

In Puerto Vallarta, more than 40 people were injured by objects hurled in the storm's powerful winds. The airport has reopened, with grateful tourists eager to end a holiday gone horribly wrong.

Irma Gomez, 38, and her family braved the storm from the city hall building in San Blas. Their home is now rubble. "Nothing can be used any more, everything is finished," she lamented. "All we have left is the clothes on our backs."