“I watched as 80 percent of my house was blown away, but at least we’re alive.”
That was how Alex Victoria, a realtor in La Manzanilla, described the scene as Hurricane Patricia slammed into the Pacific coastline last Friday evening with cyclonic winds of up to 200 mph.
It was a sentiment shared by many, including Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval, who promised a rapid response to the massive material damages caused by the monster storm. “The most important thing was to save lives and we achieved that,” he told media on Saturday.
Authorities in Jalisco and Colima had prepared for the worst case scenario after Patricia developed into a category five hurricane in less than 24 hours – the strongest ever measured by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Some weather experts described it as a potentially “catastrophic” event – a warning that prompted federal and state authorities to take unprecedented prevention measures.
Residents as far inland as Guadalajara had been advised to stay indoors and more than 1,500 shelters were set up in coastal towns. Around 10,000 tourists in Puerto Vallarta were either bussed to Guadalajara or sought refuge in the municipal shelters. Hundreds of soldiers and emergency teams were rushed to the zone.
Anne McIntyre, the executive director of Disaster Aid Canada, was in Barra de Navidad where she owns a home. “The military had trucks driving around with loudspeakers telling people to leave and they would help with transport,” she said. “This was an option for me but I chose to stay in my home for a few reasons - where it is situated and what is around me. I felt safer there, and people would know where I was. The storm really started blowing at about 2:30 p.m. and the electricity was shut off at 3 p.m. Luckily I was well prepared with water, food, candles and other supplies.
The eye of the hurricane hit land just after 6 p.m. Friday in Cuixmala, near Chamela, midway between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta.
“After the first two hours of winds we thought we had seen the worst of it, and a lot of my neighbors went outside to see the damage,” said Robert Hanson, the owner of Barra Galeria de Arte in Barra de Navidad. “Then the city sounded the alarm and told us the hurricane was about to hit and after a 20-minute lull the winds kicked up about ten-fold. During that time, you couldn’t video the hurricane from inside as it seemed as if it was a snow white out.”
The strong winds uprooted thousands of trees, downed lamp posts, electricity poles, signs and advertising hoardings, tossed lightweight palapa and laminated roofs into the air, flooded hundreds of homes and damaged bridges, highways, school campuses, hotels, restaurants and many businesses. Amazingly only a few people reported minor injuries. The major victims of the hurricane, however, were local crops. (See story on page 3.)
Ben Boyt of Melaque sat out the storm in his La Tasa Negra Cafe. “I could hear chunks coming off the roof but we were fortunate. Seventy percent of the property still exists.”
Although pounded by the winds, Melaque and Barra de Navidad fared better than the more economically challenged communities further up the coast in the municipality of La Huerta.
“Up there it’s a shambles. Really nasty,” said Boyt, who took a drive up the coastal highway Wednesday. No one has a roof left. I would say around 80 percent of the homes came down. All their possessions are lost. It’s tragic for them.”
In Puerto Vallarta the streets emptied as Patricia hit land 70 miles to the south. Governor Sandoval had flown to the port early Friday to urge residents to take shelter and supervise the preparedness effort. As it turned out, Vallarta experienced only light winds and heavy rain. U.S. television news journalists who had been rapidly dispatched to the port to cover a potential disaster had little to report. By Saturday midday, most hotels were operating normally and many business owners had removed the wooden boards they had erected to protect their storefronts.
The storm flooded dozens of homes in the towns of Tomatlan, Mascota and Talpa as it moved inland, although it soon began to dissipate as it progressed over higher ground, as some experts had predicted.
The fear that Patricia would maintain its strength as it moved across Jalisco forced authorities in Guadalajara and surrounding zones – including the Lake Chapala area – to issue a series of alerts urging people to stay at home. Dozens of events in the metropolitan area on Friday evening and Saturday were cancelled, including the passionate soccer “derby” between local rivals Atlas and Chivas and activities at the annual state fair, the Fiestas de Octubre. Many workers went home early Friday and were given the day off on Saturday.
By the time Patricia passed by Guadalajara it had weakened into a mild tropical storm. Despite the incessant rain, no blackouts, flooded streets or fallen trees were reported. As one resident noted, “It was pretty much a normal rainy season evening.”