Sunday, October 16, 2011

100 mph, 15 inches and 5 dead - Hurricane Jova

It didn't seem from the blogs I've read and the wee bit of news I was able to find that the hurricane in one of my favorite parts of Mexico was that bad.

THEN I got a call from my great friend John who lives in Calechosa about 8 miles north of Melaque with tales of his damage. In addition, John, in an ATV, did an assessment trip with a friend of about a 30 mile area.

Lordy, the damage to bridges, roads and the flora and fauna was quite severe. John lost his solar inverter but not his palapa roof. Although he said at times, even though he is forty feet above the ocean, he was wondering if he was going to survive. This from a man who has weathered storms along the Gulf Coast for 70 years! He said the winds howled for five hours.

My friend is without refrigeration and it will be at least ten days before the road to his place will be open since there are so many washouts and trees over the road.

John however, is a handy man, and with his horse Palooza he can ride the couple of miles through the jungle to the highway to get supplies! He says the seas are still too angry to use the kayak to cross to Cuestacoamate.

Thank heavens for satellite cellphones or my friend would have had no way to contact the outside world to let folks know he is alive and well, but shaken by the experience.

I'm sure there are thousands and thousands of people in that area that are having a hard time recovering. Hurricanes are a deadly force.

1 comment:

sparks_mex said...

From someone in Melaque ... believe me it was not fun. 3 times as much water as the lasst flood here. The canal in west Melaque was 6 feet over it's banks leaving many houses with a foot or two of water inside. My car was covered to the windshield and don't know if it will recover. 100 people in the school shelter downtown, airport closed, all of Cihuatlan flooded as the river crested about 25 feet over normal. It wasn't the wind ... it was the water