![]() But this time around, the Mexican government responded far more diligently.Īfter a major earthquake in 1985, Mexico developed a nationwide emergency response system to warn local residents of impending dangers through TV and social media. Patricia, for its part, also shocked people, growing unusually fast into a Category 5 storm between Wednesday and Friday. Residents were caught completely off-guard. Forecasters thought the storm was veering out to sea - before it quickly slammed inland. One of the factors that made that 1959 hurricane so deadly was that it snuck up on Mexico. (The mudslides also, weirdly, unleashed hordes of venomous scorpions and snakes that added to the death toll.) The Mexican government responded quickly to Patricia Up in the hills and mountains, major mudslides ended up killing hundreds and wiping out roads that hindered the aid response. ![]() Nearly half the homes in the area were destroyed. The last Category 5 hurricane to hit the region, back in 1959, made landfall near the major port city of Manzanillo and killed 1,800 people. Still, there's no question that things could have been much, much worse. We may hear about additional casualties in the coming days. Four other people died in an automobile accident. The storm also ended up killing a few people. Two women out camping were crushed by trees toppled by the high winds. For residents in the affected areas, it could take years to rebuild their homes and livelihoods. The hurricane ravaged local banana crops, at a cost of millions of dollars. Mexican authorities said that the storm's powerful winds damaged at least 3,000 homes and left more than 250,000 people without power. To be clear, Patricia still did plenty of damage in the areas where it did strike. Within 24 hours, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm. ![]() And because it developed so rapidly, it didn't have time to create a powerful storm surge and cause severe flooding inland.Īfter making landfall on Friday, Patricia wended its way inland through sparsely populated rural areas and soon hit mountainous terrain full of dry air that quickly chopped up the hurricane. Note the population densities: ( Michael Lowry/The Weather Channel)Īlso fortuitous: Despite its strength, Patricia was an unusually compact storm, with its most powerful Category 5 winds only extending about 15 miles out from the eye. Here's a great map from Michael Lowry of the Weather Channel, showing the storm's romp through the countryside. 150,000), it could have been much deadlier. Had the storm veered just a little bit farther north (toward the tourist hub of Puerto Vallarta, population 250,000) or a little bit farther south (toward Manzanillo, pop. Hurricane Patricia missed the most heavily populated areasĮvery hurricane is different, and Patricia had quirks that - thankfully - blunted its impact.įor starters, Patricia made landfall in one of the least populated parts of Mexico's Pacific coast, near Cuixmala, an eco-resort surrounded by an ocean reserve. Smart preparation and effective response can often make all the difference. It's a good reminder that "natural disasters" are never entirely natural. This time around, orderly evacuation efforts likely saved lives. In the past, the government had been slow to respond to hurricane threats. And, crucially, Mexico is getting much better at dealing with tropical storms. Patricia ended up passing through a lightly populated area. Rather, chalk it up to luck and readiness. A similar-size typhoon hit the Philippines in 2013 and killed more than 6,300 people. So what happened? It'd be wrong to say Patricia was overhyped. So far, six deaths have been reported - far fewer than that from many other major hurricanes - and much of Mexico's major infrastructure has survived intact. Within a day, the storm had weakened considerably, chewed up by mountainous terrain. The hurricane hit Mexico's coast at around 7 pm on Friday, a Category 5 storm with winds reaching upward of 165 mph. Patricia didn't end up causing anywhere near as much devastation as feared. And the cyclone was barreling right toward Mexico's southwestern coast.īut then. In the span of just 30 hours, an ordinary tropical storm had mutated into the most powerful hurricane ever measured, with ferocious 200-mile-per-hour winds. Last week, meteorologists were (rightly) cranking the sirens over Hurricane Patricia.
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