The National Meteorological Service (SMN) announced Thursday that the rainfall registered in recent days in Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas will most likely spread to Jalisco by the weekend, although the showers will probably be light and accompanied by winds.
The news will come as a relief to many residents who have been forced to endure temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius for several weeks.
The onset of the rainy season, however, brings a multitude of headaches for authorities in metro-area Guadalajara and residents living in zones of the city that are considered at high-risk for flooding – more than 200, according to some estimates.
Representatives from the four major metro-area municipalities – Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque and Tonala – met this week to discuss a coordinated plan of action for the coming temporada de lluvias (rainy season).
Work on preparing the city for the summer deluges has been ongoing for since the start of May, with municipal workers in Zapopan – often the hardest hit by flooding – having cleaned out 403 bocas de tormenta or storm drains. They have also removed tons of trash that has piled up in two dozen open “canals,” including 312 discarded tires.
Similar work has been carried out in the Guadalajara municipality, where local officials have identified 67 zones at high risk of flooding that will be given priority throughout the rainy season.
The SMN gas not ruled out electrical storms and hailstorms this weekend in parts of Jalisco.