At least 13 people have died and dozens more are injured after a freak tornado ripped through the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Acuna, flipping over cars and tearing down homes.
Among the dead were three children, as the whirlwind damaged an estimated 750 homes in the city across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas early on Monday (local time), Jesus Garcia, a spokesman for the local state of Coahuila, said.
The calamity also injured 229 people, all of whom were transported to local hospitals for medical care.
Walls and ceilings collapsed under the force of the tornado, which traveled at a speed of 50kmh and blew gusts of at least 200kmh, the government said, taking the border city unawares.
"We're not used to such destruction," Ciudad Acuna's mayor Evaristo Lenin Perez told local radio. "We don't have records of a single tornado in Acuna, a 110-year-old city."
A spokesman for the National Meteorological Service said it was the strongest tornado for at least 15 years in Mexico.
Preliminary findings suggested it registered between a grade EF2 and EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the spokesman said.
After the twister had swept through the city, photos showed children climbing past mangled cars that had been swept into their homes, while adults salvaged valuables from the rubble.
"Most of the dead are people who were outside, not people who were inside their homes," Perez said.
Authorities have set up seven refuge points for those whose houses were destroyed, the Coahuila government said.
Governor Ruben Moreira has arrived in Acuna, which had a population of around 134,000 in 2010, and promising that authorities will lead the city's recovery.
