A rainstorm with gale-force winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour wreaked havoc on the Guadalajara metropolitan area on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 2.
Civil Protection agencies received multiple reports of fallen trees — almost 200, some sources said — while many streets and underpasses were severely affected by flooding. Dozens of motorists were forced to abandon their vehicles as flood waters rose, although, fortunately, no fatalities or injuries were reported.
Widespread power outages were reported, with the lights remaining off in some parts of the metro-area until midday on Wednesday.
A couple of large trees toppled over on the city’s two busiest avenues, Lopez Mateos and Lazaro Cardenas, causing lane closures and traffic jams. Flooding also created severe traffic delays on Avenida México and the Calzada Federalismo. Heavy flooding was reported at the intersection of the latter roadway and Periférico Norte, where one driver was filmed desperately climbing onto the roof of his car as the flood waters rose.
Several areas of the city notorious for flooding were again affected. These included the underpasses at Washington/Ocho de Julio and Washington/Federalismo, which were both closed to traffic after water levels reached dangerous levels, and Lopez Mateos at Plaza del Sol, which, as usual, quickly transformed into a free-flowing river. In Zapopan, dozens of trees succumbed to the strong winds in the Paseos del Sol and Arboledas neighborhoods.
Mauricio López, a meteorologist at the UdeG Institute of Astronomy and Meteorology, told the Mural newspaper that while the wind speeds were comparable to those of a category 1 hurricane, the difference was that Tuesday’s storm “presented specific, short bursts of wind,” while a hurricane’s conditions are constant and cover a much wider area and distance.