View image in fullscreen A broken bridge near Acapulco. Much of the reconstruction planned after Hurricane John last year has yet to begin. Photograph: Francisco Robles/AFP/Getty The last two big storms to hit Mexico have left the city vulnerable to organised crime and in fear of the next climate shock Flora Montejo always dreamed of buying her own home. After almost three decades working as a nurse, the 68-year-old invested her retirement savings in a two-storey house in San Agustín, a working-class suburb of the Mexican resort town of Acapulco. Montejo’s retirement dream was shortlived. Not long after moving into her newly remodelled home, Hurricane John dumped record levels of rainfall on Acapulco , triggering landslides and flash floods after calm creeks turned into roaring rivers. In San Agustín, almost 50 homes along a tributary of La Sabana River collapsed after five consecutive days of nonstop rain broke the riverbank. Another 250 homes in the barrio were later condemned as uninhabitable due to the risk of further flooding. View image in fullscreen Flora Montejo shows the damage to her home. She is worried that her house is exposed and unsafe as the rainy season approaches. One wall of Montejo’s home crumbled after the houses separating hers from the San Agustín River collapsed and floated away. The neighbourhood has been declared a high-risk zone and residents have been told to relocate. “I was looking forward to enjoying my retirement after a stressful career but got only six months in my dream home before disaster struck. I still can’t absorb what has happened,” says Montejo, who is now living at a neighbour’s house with her daughter. I love this mountain and the home we built. But it’s no longer safe Federico Cuenca “My house is exposed and unsafe, and the rainy […]