HURRICANE CARLOTTA HITS PUERTO ESCONDIDO
Hurricane Carlotta, the third named Pacific storm of the season, briefly saw Category 2 status on Friday before weakening to Cat 1 and plowing almost directly into Puerto Escondido on Friday night with 90mph+ winds.
Local photographer Edwin Morales was in Puerto as the storm hit. Here is his firsthand account:
For starters the whole population of Puerto and the towns nearby were definitely NOT ready for this. The authorities were saying on the local radio it was a tropical storm and not a Category 2 hurricane. So lots of people were not ready for what we all felt.
I was tracking the storm for about two days before it hit us, and a couple of hours before it started, I was able to warn my family and all of our friends. Also: People here generally don't take things seriously. Therefore, no one had the essentials.
The storm started hitting us around 7pm with strong winds, about 50mph. The winds increased slowly until the eye of the storm was right on top of us and everything stopped. Lots of people thought it was over, but it was far from over.
That was around 8pm. As soon as the eye moved on, the winds finally came on strong, around 90mph, with gusts up to around 120mph. The darkness made things a lot worse, I think. No one could actually see what was going on.
Lots of houses lost their roofs and those inside had to run to find shelter somewhere else. I gave shelter to a family of 10 -- all in one room, hiding till next morning. The windows were whistling like crazy. It was scary. Lots of windows split apart.
Winds lasted until 10pm, I think and then the rain came. It was maybe not as strong as Pauline Hurricane in '97, but some people think the winds were stronger this time due to the wind direction.
Only a little part of the harbor area has electricity as of Monday morning. Slowly, it's getting fixed and power's being turned on in other areas of town. The area by the Point still has no power or running water. I don't even want to imagine how it is for the little communities far from here were the hurricane blasted them as well. (Note: two children died when their house was taken by a mudslide nearby, and one older woman passed away when the wind flipped her car.)
Saturday morning was really sad and awful to see all kinds of people who had lost everything the night before. Hundreds of trees had fallen all over the town. Dogs were running like crazy, as if they were wild dogs on the streets. All streets were still flooded. I can't even imagine how they were when the rain was at its strongest point on Friday night.
Lifeguards were the first to evaluate all the damage by the beach. All eight towers were completely smashed. At the harbor, there was not a single boat in the water. All boats had to be taken out. Ironically, a restaurant called the Split Coconut was split in half by the only palm tree that fell down in the entire area.
Now there's been lots of helicopters flying the area trying to evaluate all damage in the region and federal resources should be coming in shortly. I feel really bad for the people that lost everything.
The last big hurricane to make landfall here was Pauline in 1997, with winds of 109 mph, killing at least 230 people along the Pacific coast.
Luckily, other surf areas in southern Mexico fared better than Puerto. "In Salina Cruz, so far everything is good," says local surf tour operator Cesar Ramierez. "Lots of rain for five hours on Friday and showers on Saturday and Sunday, but everything is OK."
The Pacific Ocean hurricane season began on May 15 and ends on Nov. 30. Stay tuned to Surfline's Hurricanetrak for up-to-the-minute info on hurricanes around the world.
Local photographer Edwin Morales was in Puerto as the storm hit. Here is his firsthand account:
For starters the whole population of Puerto and the towns nearby were definitely NOT ready for this. The authorities were saying on the local radio it was a tropical storm and not a Category 2 hurricane. So lots of people were not ready for what we all felt.
I was tracking the storm for about two days before it hit us, and a couple of hours before it started, I was able to warn my family and all of our friends. Also: People here generally don't take things seriously. Therefore, no one had the essentials.
The storm started hitting us around 7pm with strong winds, about 50mph. The winds increased slowly until the eye of the storm was right on top of us and everything stopped. Lots of people thought it was over, but it was far from over.
That was around 8pm. As soon as the eye moved on, the winds finally came on strong, around 90mph, with gusts up to around 120mph. The darkness made things a lot worse, I think. No one could actually see what was going on.
Lots of houses lost their roofs and those inside had to run to find shelter somewhere else. I gave shelter to a family of 10 -- all in one room, hiding till next morning. The windows were whistling like crazy. It was scary. Lots of windows split apart.
Winds lasted until 10pm, I think and then the rain came. It was maybe not as strong as Pauline Hurricane in '97, but some people think the winds were stronger this time due to the wind direction.
Only a little part of the harbor area has electricity as of Monday morning. Slowly, it's getting fixed and power's being turned on in other areas of town. The area by the Point still has no power or running water. I don't even want to imagine how it is for the little communities far from here were the hurricane blasted them as well. (Note: two children died when their house was taken by a mudslide nearby, and one older woman passed away when the wind flipped her car.)
Saturday morning was really sad and awful to see all kinds of people who had lost everything the night before. Hundreds of trees had fallen all over the town. Dogs were running like crazy, as if they were wild dogs on the streets. All streets were still flooded. I can't even imagine how they were when the rain was at its strongest point on Friday night.
Lifeguards were the first to evaluate all the damage by the beach. All eight towers were completely smashed. At the harbor, there was not a single boat in the water. All boats had to be taken out. Ironically, a restaurant called the Split Coconut was split in half by the only palm tree that fell down in the entire area.
Now there's been lots of helicopters flying the area trying to evaluate all damage in the region and federal resources should be coming in shortly. I feel really bad for the people that lost everything.
The last big hurricane to make landfall here was Pauline in 1997, with winds of 109 mph, killing at least 230 people along the Pacific coast.
Luckily, other surf areas in southern Mexico fared better than Puerto. "In Salina Cruz, so far everything is good," says local surf tour operator Cesar Ramierez. "Lots of rain for five hours on Friday and showers on Saturday and Sunday, but everything is OK."
The Pacific Ocean hurricane season began on May 15 and ends on Nov. 30. Stay tuned to Surfline's Hurricanetrak for up-to-the-minute info on hurricanes around the world.
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