Hurricane Carlotta strikes with awesome power By Tony Richards on 16 June, 2012

Hurricane Carlotta strikes with awesome power

By Tony Richards on 16 June, 2012

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The twisted remains of the roof of the secondary school near Puerto Angelito

In the wake of a hurricane that left few people unawed by the incredible power that nature can wield, Puerto Escondido awoke this morning to begin cleaning up. Hurricane Carlotta struck with fury about 7:30 pm Friday evening, intensifying over the next hour before settling into a terrifying onslaught of steady winds approaching 200 km/h.
The city hunkered down: there was no other choice. To venture outside was to invite serious injury or death. In Zicatela, hotel owner Dan Clemens reported pieces of lamina roofing striking his building with the force of small and deadly rockets. Clemens said storm damage was major and all his palapa roofs had been destroyed. Indeed, palaperos will be kept busy for some time.
But apart from the damage caused by hundreds, if not thousands, of uprooted or sheared-off trees and limbs, and some roads eaten away in places by heavy runoff, the city escaped lightly considering the deadly force with which Carlotta attacked. There were no deaths here, though two children died in Pluma Hidalgo. However, the roughly-built homes with makeshift roofs of tin suffered the most. Some were utterly destroyed, many others severely damaged.
One notable scene today was the front of Super Che. One of the huge windows that looks out over the ocean was gone; the others had been extensively taped to keep them intact.
The storm brought heavy rain, which continued to fall the rest of the night. But the rain didn't come in the quantities forecast, and the wind didn't rage as long as might have been expected. At its worst the onslaught lasted not much more than half an hour, but during the two hours leading up to the peak the wind was still strong enough, and steady enough, to put fear in the heart of any man.
It was that unrelenting pounding that Dan Clemens, who was here for Paulina in 1997, described as a major difference between the two storms. That and the rain: Paulina, which was the last hurricane to strike Puerto Escondido, brought huge rainfall. There was comparatively little last night.
And the whole thing was pretty well over by about 10:30, when the storm made landfall just northwest of Puerto and the Level 2 Hurricane was soon downgraded to a tropical storm.
Today there is a light drizzle falling as residents of the city are busy with the massive clean-up. They were at it first thing this morning, and in a fashion typical of the atitutude and outlook of local citizens, quick to joke with their neighbors as they set about their work. Much of the city is still without power this afternoon, but that hasn't stopped some businesses from opening. Cafecito in Rinconada was serving breakfasts to a typically large crowd, despite the lack of electricity.
Meanwhile, the sun will come out shortly and life in Puerto Escondido goes on.

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