HURRICANE CARLOTTA HITS PUERTO ESCONDIDO Cat 1 storm makes landfall in beach town, dissipates over inland Mexico after causing widespread damage and flooding

HURRICANE CARLOTTA HITS PUERTO ESCONDIDO

Cat 1 storm makes landfall in beach town, dissipates over inland Mexico after causing widespread damage and flooding

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• Published:June 18, 2012
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• Hurricane Carlotta hit Puerto on Friday night with winds in the 90mph+ range. Photo: André Portugal
  

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 prepared for what we all felt.

I was tracking the storm for about two days before it hit us. A couple of hours before it started, I was able to warn my family and all of our friends. (People here generally don't take things seriously and 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 Hurricane Pauline 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 where the hurricane blasted them as well.

(Note: two children died when their house was taken by a mudslide nearby, and one 56-year-old 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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MoFRENZ 06/18/2012 04:57 PM

Wow...Gnarley. Im there in 2 weeks. Hope it's all or at least allmost all good by then.

steve rogers 06/18/2012 04:18 PM   * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name

bummer,,,,

Charles Williams 06/18/2012 03:23 PM

Looks bad but nothing like Paulina in 97, these bring a community together , condolences to those who lost the homes and bless those that help their neighbors. Suerate

movie POCHUTLA

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52 min
san pedro pochutlaby rastapoch55262 views · san pedro pochutla 24:51. Watch ...
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Life on Death Beach

shambhalavision

The welcome sign on the path up to Shambala was knocked down, and there was a lot of damage. Please support Shambala!

more damage at Shambala
many small businesses were destroyed

Drinking tequila while watching Hurricane Carlotta slam the coast of Oaxaca

Zipolite is a mess after Hurricane Carlotta

Zipolite is a mess after Hurricane Carlotta

Hurricane Carlotta hit Zipolite about 5:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon. It slowed down as it approached the coast and we were battered for almost six hours. Today---two days later---Zipolite, Puerto Angel and the surrounding area is still with electricity or running water. There is quite a bit of damage to roofs, roads, trees, etc. Life is very uncomfortable at the moment. Hopefully in a few days or within a week power and water will be restored. 


Here's a video I shot shortly after the hurricane started. I ran to a concrete bathroom to protect myself as things started flying:

p0gue

Jun 17, 2012 6:53 PM
Posts:  243

1

Thanks for posting those, Im glad there was enough tequila to make it through the storm. How are you uploading videos? Are the roads clear to Pochutla? Cell phone service is still down, it seems. How do things look up and down the beach? How bad is the structural damage? Much salvage and cleanup work happening? Any visible response from the government? I have friends up at Shambhala, did you notice how things fared on that end of the beach and up on the hill? Any other news, pics or videos would be appreciated. There are many people waiting for news from Zipol.

thrill to 1000 random images of Venezuela, Colombia, Central America & Mexico

geriande

Jun 17, 2012 7:04 PM
Posts:  1,127

2

There are photos and a 45 minute video posted on the Puerto Escondido forum on www.tomzap.com Damage is horrific...mostly fallen trees, palapa restaurants destroyed (like what happened with Paulina in 1997) The video showed cleanup crews, buzz saws heard in the background. Mexicans being Mexicans they will put it all back together. Still, very sad.

sangroncito

Jun 17, 2012 7:08 PM
Posts:  197

3

pOgue, I left Zipolite a few hours ago and went to Puerto Escondido because it was just getting too uncomfortable in Zipolite. I was hot, dirty, tired, covered in bites, etc. The road is clear to Pochutla, although all roads are lined with fallen trees. Many beach huts, bars and other structures were damaged. The hurricane ended about midnight and the clean up and salvage started very early the next morning. I hardly saw any sign of the government before, during or after. The local people have pulled together to repair the mess. Shambala was badly hit, perhaps being the most visibly damaged property, with roofs torn off, lots of debris, etc. The news about Zipolite and that area has been very poor, with news stories focusing on larger places up the coast like Puerto Escondido (which also has damage, although it is less noticeable than in Zipo/Puerto Angel. Zipolite and Puerto Angel and that whole coastal area is really suffering without electricity and water. There are so many power lines down I can't imagine it taking any less than a week to restore. Also there's no cel phone reception or internet. Oh....and the massive rainfall brought thousands of singing frogs to life, so on top of all that discomfort it's impossible to sleep with all those frogs singing!

Edited by: sangroncito

Existem pequenos pedaços de terra onde o inferno não chega.

sangroncito

Jun 17, 2012 7:31 PM
Posts:  197

4

Meant to write in first post above that Zipolite and area is WITHOUT electricity and water......I haven's slept in days so excuse the typo.

Existem pequenos pedaços de terra onde o inferno não chega.

p0gue

Jun 17, 2012 9:54 PM
Posts:  243

5

Thanks, sangroncito. We can be happy no one was injured, I suppose. But that's a big blow to those folks. Im most familiar with the situation at Shambhala, and there, I know, the owner was struggling to stay afloat even before the storm. God knows how they will deal with this. Pauline took years to recover from, and that was when the owner was younger and not suffering from health issues. Even if they can repair, rebuild and replace everything to get up and running, it'll be a while before many tourists show up again.

Here's your chance, vagabond kids! If you've got more time than money, and you are wandering around Mexicolooking for something interesting to do, you can be a part of the reconstruction of Shambhala! Get in touch with those folks (I would say just show up, but that might be a bit premature until more news gets out) and I am pretty sure that you will be well fed, and given a free place to sleep. Learn palm thatch and other interesting construction techniques, help reconstruct one of the oldest still-operating hippy buddhist enclaves in Mexico! I may see you there. We just put up this Facebook page, maybe it'll come in handy.

https://www.facebook.com/shambhalavision

thrill to 1000 random images of Venezuela, Colombia, Central America & Mexico

sangroncito

Jun 18, 2012 5:28 AM
Posts:  197

6

Great idea, pOgue! The entire area is going to be suffering financially for a while. There's so much damage and so few visitors at the moment. I'm heading back as soon as the electricity is restored.

By the way, there were two casualties on the coast. Two children were killed when their house collapsed on top of them.

Edited by: sangroncito

Tropical cyclone CARLOTTA-12 Coyote, Oaxaca, Mexico, Village, no people. La Redonda, Oaxaca, Mexico, Village, no people. Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca, Mexico, Village, no people. Acahuizotla ... www.gdacs.org/Cyclones/report.aspx?episodeid=5...TC

Tropical cyclone CARLOTTA-12
Coyote, Oaxaca, Mexico, Village, no people. La Redonda, Oaxaca, Mexico, Village, no people.Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca, Mexico, Village, no people. Acahuizotla ...
www.gdacs.org/Cyclones/report.aspx?episodeid=5...TC

Orange Tropical Cyclone alert in Mexico for CARLOTTA-12 from 14/06/2012 09:00 UTC to 17/06/2012 03:00 UTC

SUMMARY

TROPICAL CYCLONE IMPACT

STORM SURGE

EXTREME RAIN

MEDIA ANALYSIS

DATA RESOURCES

Automatic impact report for tropical cyclone CARLOTTA-12

Orange alert for wind impact in Mexico

This tropical cyclone is expected to have a medium humanitarian impact based on the storm strength and the affected population in the past and forecasted path.

Current storm status

This report is for advisory number 13 of tropical cyclone CARLOTTA-12 issued at 6/17/2012 3:00:00 AM (GDACS Event ID 30787, Latest episode ID: 13).

Current impact estimate:

• Population affected by Category 1 (120 km/h) wind speeds or higher is 1.2million
• Tropical Depression (maximum wind speed of 167 km/h)
• Vulnerability of affected countries: Medium
• The tropical cyclone did not reach sufficient strength to cause significant storm surge. No calculations were performed.

Impact of Extreme Wind

Cloud map. The map shows the areas affected by tropical storm strength winds (green), 58mph winds (orange) and cyclone wind strengths (red). (Source: JRC)

Affected population

Up to 1.2 million people people can be affected by wind speeds of cyclone strength or above. In addition, 2400 people people are living in coastal areas below 5m and can therefore be affected by storm surge.

Affected country

Country	Region/Province	Population
Mexico	Oaxaca	3.3 million people
Mexico	Guerrero	2.8 million people

Affected provinces

Country	Region/Province	Population
Mexico	Oaxaca	3.3 million people
Mexico	Guerrero	2.8 million people

Affected cities

Name	Region/Province	Country	City class	Population
Chilpancingo	Guerrero	Mexico	Major city	160000 people
Tixtla	Guerrero	Mexico	City	20000 people
Manzintla	Guerrero	Mexico	City	no people
Ayutla	Guerrero	Mexico	City	9800 people
Jamiltepec	Oaxaca	Mexico	City	9700 people

Critical infrastructure

Airports, ports, nuclear plants and hydrodams at risk, if affected, are listed below.

BRISAS HUATULCO,,,, VACACION LEO Y ALEX

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