This is Patricia. As seen from the space station. Somewhere under there is Mexico.
She made landfall this evening at around 6:00 pm, as a category 5 hurricane (190+ mph winds), on the southwest coast of Mexico (Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta). Its eye was 10 km (6 miles) across... Very small, very dangerous.
Since landfall, it has already weakened to a category 4... But the danger is a long way from being over. It's not about the record-breaking ocean surge, or those 200+ kilometer-per-hour winds. The main concern is rain.
In 48 hours, the area could receive 40% of its yearly rainfall.
And then there's that cold front coming from the north. Which will barrel right onto Patricia as she moves inland.
By all calculations, this is going to be a major, horrible disaster. Because once this monster gets past the coastline, it's going to slam into a huge mountain range (the Sierra Madre Occidental). There will be landslides. There will be floods. There will be whole towns swallowed by mud.
So here's the thing. Mexico appreciates your prayers, and your light- and love-sending. Really, they do. But if you're of the more—uhm, practical kind of mind, please do prepare to help in more realistic ways: contact relief organizations and animal shelters (why is it no one thinks of the animals when cataclysm hits?); contact your local Red Cross and donate blood and whatever supplies you can; organize your community to collect water and non-perishables that can be forwarded to the affected communities; contact authorities to inquire about (and maybe organize) relief actions...
The world is a village. We need each other. Over the coming weeks (hopefully not months), Mexico will need you.
Easy ways to help:
And, on behalf of all Mexico, muchísimas gracias.
Oh my...I hope you are OK. You are right about the animals which is what I think of first actually. Last Saturday my boss went for a 1 week cruise to Mexico! He and his wife were to go to Puerto Vallarta to visit with friends but the cruise ship was on the Pacific side all this week. I actually hope he and his wife are OK
ReplyDeleteThank you, Birgit :) I'm waaaay away in Curaçao, so this won't affect us at all—but I feel helpless being so far away from my country and watching this unfold... I don't have family in the affected area, just a few acquaintances (apparently everyone's OK), but this is something that will have an impact on the whole country, economically and in terms of morale.
DeleteI do hope your boss is okay... Patricia went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in something like 24 hours (outrageously fast), so let's hope all seaborne vessels had time to get out of its path. The advantage of it growing so fast, though, is that it didn't have time to build up on surge and water (like, say, Katrina). Also, the area of hurricane-force winds was pretty limited (something like 10 miles). Do let me know when you hear from your boss, though...
Thanks for the visit!
My boss is aok! He said they were a day ahead of the storm. When he was in Puerto Vallarta, he heard a woman talk about the hurricane. he didn't even know it was coming. It was blue skies, calm and wonderful. Hopefully there has not been too much flooding. Since the hurricane died down, so has the media
DeleteOur house flooded in the Nashville flood and we found Samaritan's Purse was the only charity that actually showed up, brooms in hand, and helped. Most other charities just kind of threw some bottled water at us and ran. Oh...and churches in the area. The churches were AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how often relief organizations not just drop but miss the ball entirely. I'm glad you got good help—and thanks for mentioning Samaritan's Purse; I'd never heard of them. Yes, churches are often the most personal-care oriented when large-scale tragedies happen. Glad you had at least a few to lend a hand :)
DeleteThanks for the visit, Stephanie!
Hey Guillie. I was thinking of you when Patricia hit. I actually have written a forward to tomorrow's post. Now I will add some/all of those links to help. Australians are so used to these disasters, but I daresay Mexico does not have the systems in place as we do which lessens the impact somewhat. I was pleased to see safe havens opened for people escaping Patricia's fury. I pray everyone will stay safe during this horrendous disaster of a storm. And I will find a way to help.
ReplyDeleteDenise :-)
Thank you so much, Denise! Yes, you're very right... Disaster relief is badly organized, and equipped, in Mexico, which makes any storm/flood/earthquake all the worse. The storm kind of fell apart shortly after landfall, so destruction wasn't as bad as everyone thought... But it was still bad, and people there are struggling to pick up the pieces. Thank you so much for sharing; any help will be very welcome, and international awareness is, perhaps, the best way to keep those Mexican relief organizations in line :)
DeleteThanks for bringing this to our attention Guilie - and providing links for disaster relief. Here in SA we were notified of Patricia (i commented back to you on my blog post the other day) and my thoughts went to you even though you're pretty far away from the eye of the storm. I know that it was downgraded to a 1 so this is good.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan! I saw your reply to my comment on your blog, and very much appreciate your concern... Yes, fantastic that the storm brought less fury than expected! Devastation's still pretty serious, though, especially because the affected areas are on the less economically developed side. But it could've been much, much worse—and for that we're all very thankful :)
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