Armed residents guard streets in Mexico’s hurricane-hit Acapulco

Armed with machetes and baseball bats, some residents of Mexico’s hurricane-ravaged beachside city of Acapulco are guarding their neighborhoods from looters who have already emptied supermarkets.

In the Progreso district, locals have used metal roof panels and other debris left by Hurricane Otis to block the entrances to streets.

After night falls, “people make barricades to prevent people from coming through. They use what’s lying on the street,” Salvador Chavez, a resident of the area, told AFP on Tuesday.

People have been discovered trespassing in homes in the wake of the disaster, he said.

Once a magnet for Hollywood stars, Acapulco has faced a deteriorating security situation in recent years, largely due to drug cartel-related violence.

Nearly a week after Otis made landfall as a scale-topping category 5 hurricane with winds of 165 miles (270 kilometers) per hour, authorities were still working to fully restore power across the city.

The government said that the latest toll stood at 46 people dead — including three foreigners — and 58 unaccounted for.

More than 300 foreigners had been located safe and sound, the foreign ministry said.

The storm severely damaged or destroyed many buildings and led to power and communication outages, though services have been restored in several areas.

Supermarket shelves were quickly stripped bare in a wave of looting.

Some property owners in the luxury hotel zone have deployed armed guards to prevent robberies.

Thousands of soldiers have been deployed as part of the relief effort and are helping to distribute food and water.

Medical brigades, including Cuban doctors, are providing medical treatment to those in need.(BSS/AFP)