Mexico's Long Hurricane Season

In the part of far inland Mexico that I live in, the highlands of Michoacan located in the country’s Central Pacific aka Western Central region, the “normal” rainy season begins in early June and continues until the end of October. However, recently most years are not normal and this year’s rainy season was a very brief one, from the end of July till the beginning of September. Yet, not related to the rainy season, from the middle of September through late October, my town of Churintzio experienced, particularly overnight, many episodes of tropical depressions consisting of sustained high winds and some also with substantial rainfall. You see, Churintzio located at least 275 miles from Mexico’s East Pacific coast (which extends from western to central coastal Mexico) and around 1000 miles from its South Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico) and Caribbean coasts, is also affected by a different weather pattern season, the hurricane season.

Hurricane season in the East Pacific extends from May 15-November 30 while in the South Atlantic it is from June 1 to November 30. Historically, however, the most destructive of the hurricanes occur between September and October when the warm ocean waters that give life to and propel the storms reach their maximum temperatures. According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale there are five categories of hurricanes: category 1, 74-95 mph winds; category 2, 96-110 mph; category 3, 113-130 mph; category 4, 131-155 mph, and category 5, greater than 155 mph. Additionally, the less severe storms that may arise prior to turning into full-blown hurricanes or after hurricanes diminish in intensity are categorized as tropical storms with sustained winds from 39-73 mph and tropical depressions with sustained winds less than 39 mph. Powerful forces of nature, hurricane damage is usually caused by storm surge, high winds, heavy rains, flooding, mud slides, and tornados.

With a coastline of 5797 miles, subtropical/tropical, long and narrowly shaped Mexico is indeed situated to experience hurricanes, many of them highly destructive in nature. During the first decade of the 21st century, the two most powerful hurricanes that struck the country were Hurricane Kenna and Hurricane Wilma. In October, 2002, Kenna a category 5 hurricane, the second most intense hurricane to strike the west coast of Mexico, had its landfall near the tropical village of San Blas, Nayarit. With winds that had “diminished” to 140 mph, Kenna resulted in at least four deaths and 95% of the buildings in San Blas were damaged or destroyed while 100 miles to its north, the popular resort city of Puerto Vallarta , Jalisco also suffered extensive damage.

Even more destructive was Wilma , the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Also a category 5 hurricane, Wilma, in October 2005, with sustained winds over the ocean that had reached 175 mph and whose eye passed through the island of Cozumel, struck the mainland of the Yucatan Peninsula with winds of 150 mph, making contact in the coastal resort city of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo in October, 2005. Striking not only the Yucatan Penninsula but also Cuba and Florida, Wilma resulted in at least 62 deaths, 10 of those in Quintana Roo. In the Yucatan Penninsula alone, with several areas reporting rainfall in exceess of 23 inches, the financial damage to infrastructure, housing, tourism, and agriculture was estimated to be $7.5 billion. Playa del Carmen was structurally devastated by the storm. Highly touristed Cozumel experienced extensive damage to its marine habitat, especially at its shallower dive sites while the mega resort of Cancun, 42 miles north of Playa del Carmen, suffered major infrastructure/structural damage and 60% of its famous white sands were lost. Well before today, the areas in Mexico devastated by both Kenna and Wilma have recovered, at least structurally; unfortunately, perhaps not the same can be said for some of their flora and fauna.

Yet, while not all hurricanes have the potential for the extent of destruction as exemplified by Kenna and Wilma, all must be taken quite seriously and thoroughly prepared for. At least unlike other natural disasters like earthquakes, wildfires, some volcanic eruptions, and tornados, the course of hurricanes are (somewhat) predictable and can be prepared for days in advance. An excellent case in point is Hurricane Rina which struck the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, most specifically Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Cancun, in late October, 2011.

Predicted perhaps to reach category 3 status, Hurricane Rina at its apex of intensity over the ocean was a category 2 and by the time of its landfall in Playa del Carmen had been downgraded to a tropical storm. Having learned its lesson from the wrath of Wilma, the state of Quintana Roo and the most vulnerable areas expected to be affected by the storm made extensive preparations. All along the area that Playa del Carmen is located in, the Riviera Maya, and in the Cancun area, windows were boarded up and properties were otherwise secured. In Cancun, in the poorer, non-touristed zones emergency workers encouraged residents to go to the 50 public shelters that had been organized. Most schools in the state, especially in the coastal areas, had been ordered closed for the day that the storm was to arrive. Additionally, at least 12 luxury cruise ships’ itineraries carrying 40,000 passengers were altered as a result of the impending storm and the 20 dolphins in Cancun's marine parks were moved inland for protection.

Two days prior to landfall it is estimated that there were 83,000 tourists, mostly foreigners, throughout all of Quintana Roo-28,000 in Cancun, 1700 in Cozumel, and another 45,000 down along the Riviera Maya "strip." By the next day, at least 10,000 tourists had flown out of Cancun’s international airport. However, not every one who wanted to exit the area were allowed to as people were urged not to go to the airport unless they had confirmed reservations. Although, overall, the storm preparations were handled conscientiously, smoothly and effectively, it was reported that there was a major, hard-to-explain-for 21st century glitch in the evacuation plan. Due to the large numbers of tourists trying to flee the area, the Mexican army was only allowing people into the airport who had paper boarding passes; those showing up with E-boarding passes on blackberries and iPhones were turned away. The day that the then tropical storm struck, although the airport remained open, all 90 ingoing and outgoing flights had been cancelled. Spared the major hurricane that many had feared, when Rina had departed, Playa del Carmen had endured 41 mph gusts with 1.89” of rain while more vulnerable nearby in the ocean Cozumel had 43 mph gusts and 8.2” of rain.

To provide a more local picture of the preparations for and the effects of the aftermath of Rina, I am going to let Michael P. Halle’s words (with some editing by myself) speak for themself. Mike is an “acquaintance” of mine (who as of now I have never actually met) through BellaOnline who is the program producer for the Toronto-based 50 Plus.com’s online 123 Go Mexico, a trial project with the Mexican government. He is also the general manager of a small boutique resort property, the Hotel Amarte, situated in Solidaridad, just outside of Playa del Carmen.

"I tell you, I am most impressed at the efficiency of the Maya workers and the focus that only a storm can bring! Here the damage was not really very bad at all....lots of rain...some palapa's damaged....leaks everywhere... but our locale is protected by Cozumel where I am told had a lot of serious water damage. I was in Playa del Carmen yesterday and there appeared to not have been much there either. Cancun I am told that it was the same as here."

"Now an amazing phenomena that you in particular must keep in mind, our property straddles the 307 Hwy. To the West is the jungle and further Merida, etc. To the east the Sea! The owner Arq Jose Luis Moreno has fully protected the mangrove/manglar as in my case, I ride my mountain bike every morning from the roads which are rustic and dirt and are cut through the jungle in a way to minimize destruction. In fact I ride the original road he cut 25 years ago! When the heavy rains come, such as Rina, the mangroves swell and then, rise above the road. The net affect is that in many places along the road, the mangrove reconnects to itself! I saw an area just ahead where the mangrove had rejoined itself, and I could see these fish moving across the road- it was amazing! And then Mother Earth in all her wisdom takes over... After seeing the destruction by a hurricane many years back it would take Nature a very short amount time to retake this region...all we need after a destructive hurricane is no clean up, no chemicals, no dredging, no slashing and burning and this rugged jungle environment would move to reclaim Herself!... Mangroves as we know are Nature's incubator and the biodiversity one can find here is nothing short of a miracle!"

As Mike said referring to Rina, "compared to the damage done by Wilma in 2005, this was a breeze!" However, during Mexico's long hurricane season and with its long history of destructive storms, learning from the past, preparation-wise, is the key to safely preparing for the future. Perhaps manana, er, I mean next time, the Mexican military will even honor those high tech airline boarding passes!