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Reports of Damage from Hurricane Jimena - Updated 09/20/09
The BajaInsider had received hundreds of emails from our readership. As with most websites that are continuing to report information regarding Hurricane Jimena, our information has been provided by our readers from first hand experiences. We would like to thank our readers for their contributions.
Pat Rains tells us there is a drop off spot for donated items in Ensenada, and supplies will be dispursed from there by the Mexican Red Cross.
In Mexico City, head of the Cruz Roja National Relief Coordinator is Isaac Oxenhaut: 011-52-55-362-7089, email desastre@cruzrojo.org.mx
Also see the Baja Road Report
Monday, September 7, 2009
Disaster Relief Begins in US after Hurricane Jimena beats Baja California Sur
By Patricia Rains
MexiData.info note: On Monday, September 7, the Mexican government published a notice in the Official Daily of the Federation declaring the municipalities of Los Cabos, La Paz, Comondú, Loreto and Mulegé, in Baja California Sur, emergency areas due to the damages caused by hurricane Jimena.
In the wake of Hurricane Jimena, an estimated 35,000 people in central Baja California, Mexico, are homeless and stranded without food, water or power. Rescue efforts and communications are hampered by destroyed airports, roads, bridges, power lines and cell phone towers.
Hurricane Jimena, a Category 3 storm, made landfall September 2 at Magdalena Bay on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur. It skirted northward and crossed the peninsula toward Mulege and Santa Rosalia, where it hovered for days over the west central Sea of Cortez. Central Baja California suffered massive flash floods and mudslides, and Highway 1 is severed in many places. Flooding occurred as far east as Guaymas, Sonora. Unusual for a cyclonic storm, the remnants of Jimena moved south down the Sea of Cortez before petering out.
Without airports and roads, damage assessment couldn’t begin until Sunday, September 6, when the Ciudad Constitución runway was repaired. Baja California Sur governor Narcisco Agundez Montaño and officials of the Baja California Civil Protection agency and Mexico Red Cross (Cruz Roja) inspected some of the devastated areas and flew over others. Baja California Sur was declared a natural disaster and funds were released to speed recovery. Lacking electricity, shelters in central Baja California Sur were already overwhelmed with displaced families and had run out of water, food and basic medical supplies.
Severe damage occurred at Isla Magdalena, Santa Maria Bay, Puerto Lopez Mateos, Puerto San Carlos, Punta Abreojos, San Ignacio Lagoon, Ciudad Constitución, Villa Insurgentes, Comondu, Loreto airport, Mulege, Santa Rosalia and San Ignacio, according to the Baja California Civil Protection agency. Highway 1 is severed in many places, and large bridges are washed out. The US State Department warned tourists not to attempt to drive down Baja California.
Relief efforts are just getting underway. (See list below of most requested items and relief aid contacts.) One death is confirmed in Mulege, but more are expected to be reported as relief workers reach isolated areas by air and sea later this week.
The following reports were compiled from emails, ham radio messages, YouTube video, websites, web blogs, and Spanish-speaking TV newscasts.
After flying over Puerto Lopez Mateos, members of the Baja Bush Pilots, a private organization, reported that half the cannery buildings were destroyed, all wood homes were flattened, and a quarter of the population is homeless. Earlier reports said 750 homes were lost in that town, and that the desalination plant at the cannery was destroyed, so the municipality had no water. Earlier reports said the two isolated fishing villages on the barrier island of Isla Magdalena no longer existed.
A Telemundo news team traveling with the Baja California governor reported that the last message from Puerto San Carlos on Magdalena Bay came from a police officer just prior to the hurricane’s landfall, saying the town of San Carlos could not be evacuated because the isthmus roadway had been breached by flood waters.
Following Jimena’s path, Punta Abreojos village and Laguna San Ignacio (whale park) took a direct hit by Jimena’s eye wall as a Category 2 hurricane. Shari Bondi in the Pacific coast fishing village of Bahia Asuncion reported that her village fared well but that Abreojos village and San Ignacio Lagoon were badly damaged.
Up on Baja California’s central mesa, in the large agricultural towns of Ciudad Constitución and Villa Insurgentes, 70% to 90% of the buildings (homes, businesses) were reported as destroyed or not habitable. The mayor’s office in Constitución requested medical supplies, food and water.
The airport at Constitución has been repaired and opened on Monday, September 7, so emergency supplies are being air lifted there, coordinated by the Baja California Civil Protection agency, the Baja Bush Pilots, and the Flying Samaritans. Emergency supplies will be distributed to outlying villages as roads are repaired.
Puerto Escondido reported no injuries, all the marina moorings held, a few API moorings dragged. A few attended boats chafed through their own mooring lines or dragged anchor but were assisted by the marina staff and fellow yatistas. A few unattended boats did drag ashore, mostly into mangroves. Loreto airport was damaged and closed, but officials said power may be restored to Loreto on Saturday, September 12. The highway south toward Constitución was washed out, many bridges gone, but recent reports say it is passable to La Paz.
Mulege: a 75-year old man drowned when floodwaters filled his home. Mulege residents are reporting worse damage than from Hurricane John in 2006. The highway bridge was 6 feet under raging torrents when the flash flood crested, but that bridge is still standing. All Mulege homes along the river were flooded, about half were destroyed. The fire station had 2 feet of water inside, and throughout the town many roofs are gone and home walls collapsed. All Mulege grocery stores were flooded, and locals are asking for emergency food & water. Mulege shelters are overwhelmed by homeless Jimena victims, so people are sleeping in cars.
All homes on Punta Chivato were flooded and damaged, some destroyed. A pilot living at Punta Chivato reported that one unpaved airstrip has been repaired for emergency landings.
Santa Rosalia’s downtown area was devastated by flash floods (water, mud and debris) that scoured the central canyon, washing cars and drowned livestock out to sea. The older Marina Santa Rosalia was destroyed except for two slips. The Singlar marina reported to be OK, no boats or docks sunk. Yatistas said it rained heavily for 48 hours straight. One person is reported missing from a fishing village north of Santa Rosalia, according to the Baja California Civil Protection agency.
AIRLIFT ITEMS FOR SHELTERS & HOMELESS
Basic first aid and OTC medical supplies, cooking pans & utensils, camp tents, plastic tarps, rope, flashlights & lanterns with batteries, cloth shoes, clothing, light bedding. After the roads open, heavier items will be sought for donation and carried by truck.
CONTACTS: Civil Protection Agency of Baja California Sur: contact Professor Jose Gajon de la Toba, 011-52-030-546-100, or email him at procivilbcs@live.com.mx
Mexico Red Cross (Cruz Roja) in Mexico City: head of the Cruz Roja National Relief Coordinator is Isaac Oxenhaut: 55-362-7089, email desastre@cruzrojo.org.mx However, as we go to press, the Cruz Roja website has not been updated since the day before Hurricane Jimena struck.
Baja Bush Pilots: In southern California and the southwest US, Baja Bush Pilots has coordinated with Cruz Roja and the Baja California Civil Protection agency, and is now flying down emergency medical supplies. To help with their airlift efforts, email Jimena disaster relief coordinator Jack@BajaBushPilots.com or visit www.BajaBushPilots.com.
Cabo San Lucas
Rodrigo L. Alcacer - Eagle Divers writes:
I'm glad to tell you than nothing happen in Cabo San Lucas. We just have rain and a little strong wind. Zero damages; everything work good. The water cool a little bit but is warming again. Water visibility is around 30 feet.
The BajaInsider office in Cabo San Lucas will require a little yard clean up. Winds blew to tropical storm force and less than 2" of rain fell. Roads were cleared and business were returning to normal 24hrs after the storm passed.
Cruise ships altered destinations and route planning to accommodate the weather conditions.
Some minor street flooding occurred but all in all there was limited damage to the city and things will return to normal in less than 24hrs.
Constitucion
Baja Bushpilots writes:
Most roofs are gone; sever damage to 70% of the buildings. Power, water, telephones are out.
The BajaInsider had been unable to reach our contact in Consitucion due to power outages. The roof on the new supermarket was blown off or caved in under the pressure of intense rains and winds. it will be some time before that business is able to reopen. The roadways were flooded and the road to the north of the intersection to CD Insurgentes was flooded and closed for 24hrs following the storm. The road has since reopened.
Pat Rains of MexicoBoating,com writes:
Up on the mesas, in the large agricultural towns of Ciudad Constitución and Villa Insurgentes, 70% of the buildings (homes, businesses) are reported as destroyed or not habitable, up to 90% in the isolated town of Comandu. The mayor office in Constitución has requested medical supplies, food, water. Other items, cooking pans, utensils, shoes, children's clothing, flash lights with batteries. Constitución may be Baja Bush Pilots' first relief zone, flying down on Tuesday, Sept 8. Subsequent flights are already planned later this week.
East Cape
Eastcape was about as far away from the storm center as was possible in Baja Sur as Jimena passed. Separated by miles and mountains, moderate winds and less than 1" of rain was reported. Roads were open to bothe La Paz and Cabo. One reader from La Ribera stated they were glad to let this one skate by, after taking the brunt of Hurricane John on 2006.
La Paz
The BajaInsider office in La Paz had no damage. Max wind speeds recorded our weather station at CostaBaja was 45kts at 4.40AM on Wednesday morning. Rainfall accumulation was less than 2", depending on location in the city. There was limited damage and things returned to normal by Thursday, when most businesses reopened.
Tropical Storm conditions were about all that was experienced in La Paz. There were a number of power outages due to lines downed and exploding transformers. Power was restored to most residents in a matter of hours.
Lopez Mateo - Matancitas
Baja Bushpilots writes:
Almost 90% of the structures are down or severely damaged. All water, power, telephone, etc. out
The BajaInsider contact reached us briefly by cell phone following the storm from Puerto San Carlos and reported heavy damage to the area before contact was lost.
This is one of the hardest hit areas by the hurricane and damage is extensive. All homes suffered some form of damage from moderate to total. Most or all of the fishing fleet suffered heavy damage or sank. We are told support has arrived but it may be a week or so before all the damage is assessed.
Loreto
Baja Bushpilots writes:
All power / telephone are down, lines are down, trees and buildings blocking the streets, airport is closed at this time.
Ana Carranza of the Hotel Angra, Loreto writes:
We are fine, but we didn't have electricity for 3 days and a really big power plant just arrived and started working for all the town, now we have electricity but I'm not sure how it will be working, so the hotel stayed closed, and we'll open tomorrow. I lost some reservations for the weekend because this situation but I hope this week It'll get better.
Jimena was really hard hurricane but thanks god it wasn't as bad for Loreto as it was for Cd. Constitucion and Puerto San Carlos, poor people. So the hotel is just fine and me and my family are great thank you for your concern.
Between Loreto and Mulege
Gerry a Hamster from Bahia de Concepcion writes:
As you probably already know Jimena came over the top of El Burro yesterday. Recorded winds here were 100 knots. It would be impossible to list all the damages to the palapas on the beach. Most if not all had roof damage. La Vita is on the beach. This time in front of Bobby and Ted’s place. The mizzen is gone and serious damage to the starboard ama.
Magdalena - Man of War Cove
Pat Rains of MexicoBoating,com writes:
One report said the fishing village of Isla Magdalena (Man of War Cove) "virtually no longer exists." Another said one home there lost its roof - so reports vary widely! In nearby Lopez Mateos, 750 homes and most businesses were destroyed, including the cannery's desalination plant and the town pharmacy. Two cannery boats broke loose from the pier and went aground. Puerto San Carlos inside Mag Bay: Police sat phone reported the roadway was breached so they could not evacuate before Jimena struck; it's still cut off.
Mulege
Rick Barber of Mulege MLS writes:
General facts:
Water was 2' over the bridge at Mulege
Water was 2' deep in the plaza
Only one death known- Mexican national who refused to leave his home (he was schizophrenic)
Most of the homes in the Orchard were destroyed- some in the back rows are repairable
The Oasis sustained similar but less damage than the Orchard
Everything down to and including the Serenidad Hotel sustained some damage
Homes and businesses on the north side of the river were either severely damaged or destroyed.
El Patron, the restaurant out by the lighthouse was destroyed
Pancho Villa's restaurant not far from the el Patron also destroyed
Don Chano's park virtually destroyed
Loma Azul area not too bad but some wind damage.
Major flooding of most businesses in town.
2 grocery stores open
Water plant operational
2 hardware stores open
Power by CFE emergency generators
Some city water restored in limited central area of town
Rick is a real estate representative in Mulege and has posted a great slide show of the damage in Mulege, check out his photos click here
Pat Rains of MexicoBoating,com writes:
A 75-year old man drowned when floodwaters filled his home. Mulege residents are reporting worse damage than from Hurricane John in 2006. The big highway bridge was 2 meters underwater when floodwaters crested. The fire station had 2 feet of water, many roofs gone and walls collapsed. All Mulege grocery stores were flooded. Locals are in need of emergency food & water.
Mulege shelters are overwhelmed by homeless Jimena victims, people are sleeping in cars. Police video on UTube showed water rushing all a cross the valley, so all the Old Orchard homes were underwater, many destroyed. All homes on Punta Chivato were flooded and damaged, some destroyed, but one of the Punta Chivato airstrips is now open (as of Monday Sept 7).
Gerry a Hamster from Bahia de Concepcion writes:
Mulege took a major hit. The water in the river came to 3 feet below the bottom of the bridge. The water line on Poncho’s tiendas was 3 feet above the sideaYKalk. All overhead signs were either down or damaged as well as many power poles and telephone lines.
The Mulege dam broke. Most of the road signs have been
damaged….blown over. I did not go into town proper because I could see the mud in the streets from the bridge. Ana’s restaurant took a major hit. Not just
the roof but inside damage as well.
Bertha’s, now being run by Indian Al and Celia, had only slight damage. Bertha had Oscar put on a new tin roof last week and he missed nailing down several panels. Al was up on the roof during the hurricane nailing down the panels before they blew o ff. Scotie’s Restaurant had 3 feet of water.
Puerto Escondido
Tim & Cindy of s/v Masquerade writes:
We are up in Puerto Escondido where we sat through Jimena. We came through just fine. A few (mostly unattended) boats here got loose but no one was injured. It was a long storm as we had strong winds for over 24 hrs. Quite a bit of 40-50kn, very gusty, our max reading was 88kn!
We have heard of damage to Mulege and Santa Rosalia and the power is still out in Loreto. It was reported that several docks at the old marina in Santa Rosalia were damaged.
Pat Rains of MexicoBoating,com writes:
Puerto Escondido reported no injuries, all the marina moorings held, a few API moorings dragged. A few attended boats chafed through their own mooring lines or dragged anchor but were assisted by the marina staff and fellow yatistas. A few unattended boats did drag ashore, mostly into mangroves. Loreto airport closed. Highway south toward Constitución is washed out, many bridges gone. My ham radio is down, so I don't have any direct news from Puerto Escondido.
Punta Chivato
Chivato Bay Airport should reopen 9/9.
Baja Bushpilots writes:
One person indicates that the wind was over 100 mph before the indicator broke. Damage to almost everything. We should hear about the condition of the strip sometime today
Gerry a Hamster from Bahia de Concepcion writes:
There are homes with major water damage to homes along Shell Beach
San Felipe
Darryl writes:
Nothing to report as far as damage in San Felipe. We were concerned early on as the storm seemed headed right for our area. But as time went on it looked like it might veer to the East towards mainland Mexico. We did receive some rain and unusual winds. The cooling was was a welcome change. But again no damage to report.
San Ignacio
Following Jimena's path, Punta Abreojos village and Laguna San Ignacio (whale park) took a direct hit by Jimena's eye wall as a Category 2 hurricane. Asuncion Shari reports that Abreojos and Laguna San Ignacio were badly damaged, but Asuncion is fine.
Santa Rosalia
Candy Keeney of Punto Chivato writes:
The report on the hwy 1 is that Vizcaino was flooded 13 miles above Sta. Rosalia is washed out, the new bridge below Santa Rosalia and above Palo Verde was washed out as well. That said, people are getting through with 4 wheel drive. They are navigating around the washouts.
The airports at Palo Verde and Serinidad are out of commission, but Punta Chivato is soft, but doable. We'll be getting a report on that later today after one of our homeowners gets in.
Mulege and Sta. Rosalia were hit very hard with much destruction and lost of property, power, phone, food, etc. The governor has been there and brought in needed supplies. They don't need medicines, but do need surgical and OB
The Sociedad Mutualista a non-profit, provided this list of ecential items needed:
• Clothing
• Drinking water
• Hand sanitizer
• Aspirin, tylenol
• Saws (power and manual)
• Power converters from 12v DC to 110v AC, so they can get some power from cars
Fights broke out over water which is in short supply on Saturday.
Baja Bushpilots writes:
Santa Rosalia: Wall of water came down the canyon and through the town, washed cars, etc. into the ocean.
equipment.
The Red Cross has been in contact with us today, they are still in the process of determining their needs however, they indicate that they will need our help.
We will be putting out another alert for donations as well as where they are needed. I have taken the position that we will not be bringing things down unless there is a structured means of distributing them. With Hurricane John, I have to estimate that about half of the donations ended up with people that really did not need them.
R. Alex Hasenclever writes:
Hurricane winds battered the town for 9 long hours with wind gusts of up to 90 knots and torrential rain before finally moving away towards the mainland (San Carlos/Guaymas), only to bounce back the next day in a weaker way with lots of rain and winds up to 40 knots.
Hwy 1 is fully open since Monday with truck traffic going north and south . Some sections are one way traffic only due to washouts. Bus service is also back on a reduced schedule. Car traffic is back to normal. Gas stations in Santa Rosalia are open.
The old marina in Santa Rosalia got pretty much destroyed, 2 docks are still floating with little support. The "Palapa of Knowledge", recently repainted and cleaned up, is full of mud and debris.
Marina Singlar is mostly undamaged and full. 2 docks suffered minor damage and all boats fared well with no damage. Power to the docks is still not up and water is being rationed out of the own cistern. Power to the marina complex is restored since it has a different service line coming in.
Cell service is fully functional. We had full Telcel 3G internet service during the storm and could track its progress on our boat. Land lines are also coming back up.
Power to the town is mostly restored. Water is another subject and will take a while since 4 pumping stations bringing water to the town vanished and need to be rebuild.
The harbor is full of debris, floating on the surface as well as below the surface. Besides refrigerators and other debris, 5 cars made it this time into the bay. One of this days a serious dredging effort will have to take place to clean up the bottom of this harbor.
The airport is still closed due to washed out road leading to the airport. The ferry to Guyamas is operational. since Sunday.
A big problem is the dust created by the dried mud in town.
San Carlos, Sonora - on the Mainland
Pam Brame a Realtor in San Carlos writes:
Jimena hit San Carlos, Sonora Mexico with heavy rain fall for over 30 hours, reports of rain fall have been from 26" to 42". The winds were reported the highest at 68 MPH. It wasn't the winds or the swells that cause the damage in San Carlos , Guaymas and Emplame it was the rain water. The run off the mountains was like rivers.
We had complete streets collapsed as well as boats in dry storage just float into the main boulevard. Power lines were down everywhere, trees uprooted. We have some complete loss of beach front homes. We had many boats from our Bay on the beach that were moored in the Bahia . Guaymas reports 45,000 people displaced and lost their homes. Emplame, NO word but sure that they are in worse shape.
Our orphanage we support is in Empalme, we are worried about our kids (45) out there. CFE (power company) has been working 24/7 to restore everyone's power and I believe that this morning everyone has power in San Carlos . Our water is a different story, rumors have it that we might not have water for up to 3 weeks.
Please check, www.whatsupsancarlos.com/Hurrican_ Jimena_Aftermath .html for all pictures. On a positive note we had three offers come into our office on Sunday! The sun is shining and we are still living in paradise."
We also have reports that the main highway between San Carlos and Guaymas, the checkpoint at Empalme and south, has experienced serious damage causing re-routing of traffic and serious delays. If you have plans of traveling in the area of San Carlos and south you should try to find out about road conditions in advance.
Pam is also concerned over the plight of the kids at an orphanage which she and others in San Carlos support. If you have any information about the kids at the Rancho del Ninos Orphanage in Empalme, https://empalme kids.com
Mark and Migel of Oceans Camp writes:
Well, 36+ hours of continuous rain, and strong winds. We are not sure how many of you are here in town, and if you are you might have seen some of these images already. For those of you that aren't in town, we just wanted to give you a glimpse of what Jimena did to our area. We hear on the Mexican radio stations that Guaymas and the valley did not do very well either, and we understand that help is slowly arriving.
Electricity is out, and so is water. Some houses that have a generator can get internet through Telmex, as the land lines are working OK. We understand that Highway 15 is broken both south of Guaymas and North of Guaymas, and we read in the newspaper that a 5 km long line of cars going southbound in Hermosillo are stopped, waiting for the road to be reopened.
The main boulevard is broken, so San Carlos is split in two. Comisario says that they are working on opening an alternate route so people can at least come and go to Guaymas, but we have not tried it yet.
The road going up to the Caracol is mostly broken before the gates, only high profile vehicles can pass through, though we have seen some brave ones in smaller vehicle attempt to go up or come down.
We have heard of major damage in Guaymas and Enpalme and to the east. We wish them well.
Tom Johnston and Charlie Bloomer, Brokers Sea of Cortez Yachts writes:
In about 24 hours, we had nearly 700 mm, or about 28" of rain. Winds were in the range of 50 to 60 knots, based on boaters' observations here. Arroyos became raging torrents, cutting off Guaymas and San Carlos on the main highway, MEX15, as several bridges washed out. Even Blvd. Beltrones here in town is closed after a bridge near Totonaka Trailer Park was washed out, leaving a forty-foot gap in all four lanes.
Boats on moorings in Bahia San Carlos didn't fare well. Some 19 either sank or broke free and went onto the beach. The two marinas did much better, with only a few smaller boats and pangas sinking.
Dry storage facilities did pretty well. No reports of damage at Marina Real. Marina Seca looks, at first glance, like a disaster area. However, Kiki and her crew have gone to extraordinary lengths to get things corrected. The office had about a meter of muddy water, and "mud dunes" criss-cross the work area.
At this point, no one is permitted into the storage area, so Tom and I weren't able to check each boat. But we were very impressed by the amount of effort the Seca crew was putting in.
The BajaInsider would also like to thank Susan Ross of Ross Marine Services in La Paz for forwarding to us many of these comments.
Todos Santos
Tropical storm force conditions were all that materialized from Jimena. Earlier forecasts had placed landfall just north of Todos Santos and many people evacuated to La Paz. Winds to 40kts were reported just south of the town. Damage was light and only a moderate amount of rainfall was recorded.
General Jimena information
Debra Valov Director, Lasecomujeres.org sends us this links page to some of the information provided above as well as some other new stuff...
http://www.lasecomujeres.org/Jimena_links.html