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Death toll from storm Agatha falls to nine

Staff WritersAP
Agatha made landfall as a category two hurricane in southern Mexico on Monday afternoon.
Camera IconAgatha made landfall as a category two hurricane in southern Mexico on Monday afternoon. Credit: EPA

The death toll caused by Hurricane Agatha in Mexico has fallen to nine after initial reports of 11 dead, state authorities say.

Another four are missing, authorities told local media on Wednesday.

Agatha made landfall as a category two hurricane on Monday afternoon, touching down with 169km/h winds near the beach town of Puerto Angel on the Pacific coast before dissipating on Tuesday as it moved inland.

The governor of Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat, had said on Wednesday morning that 11 were dead and 33 missing following the storm.

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State authorities said many of the missing were found after contact was re-established with Oaxaca's remote communities.

Oaxaca's governor said the tallies of dead and missing were preliminary and urged people to remain alert.

"It's important the entire population remains safe. There's a likelihood of landslides and river flooding," Murat told reporters.

The US National Hurricane Center said there was an 80 per cent chance that a cyclone would form in the Atlantic from Agatha's remnants in the next 48 hours.

"This system is likely to become a tropical depression while it moves northeastward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and southeastern Gulf of Mexico during the next couple of days," the Miami-based agency said.

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