Total destruction in Mexico from Emily

[Derek Ortt]

Just happened to be flipping passed a spanish channel and saw arials from Mainland Mexico from Emily


<b>HORRIFIC DAMAGE</b> is the only way it can be stated. Entire structures near the coast swept away, much worse than the photos from Ivan and Dennis

[wxmann_91]

Oh dear...not good.

Can anyone prove that to me, though? NOt that I don't believe you, Derek.

[clfenwi]

The area that took second landfall took it rough. An article in the Mexico City newspaper that I have been reading and linking to said 80-90% of the structures around Laguna Madre were wiped out... I'll throw up the link if I can dig it up again...

http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/295142.html (article in Spanish)

My translation of the article:

Emily devestates 90% of fishing zone in Tamaulipas (state).

Authorities of the Mexican Army Navy and the municipal president of Matamoros (Tamaulipas state) indicated today that between 80 and 90% of the dwellings were destroyed, after flying over the fishing communities of Laguna Madre.

This afteronon onboard a Hercules plane of the Mexican Fleet, the municipal pesident Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa, together with César de la Sancha Villa (of the plaza garrison) and Francisco Vidal Soberan, of the Naval Army confirmed the devestation that Hurrican Emily left on her trip through this area.

Houses, (strong driving forces?), small boats, fish art, schools, and churches have practically disappeared

The officials of the three levels of government signaled that they were going to petition the Secretary of the Provinical Government's Office to declare the communites of El Mezquital, La Cappilla, and the surrounding islands as a 'disaster zone' so that through the National Disaster Fund, the more than 8,000 people who live in the fishing zone can rebuild.

Still, This afternoon when all returned to the calm after the passage of the storm, the residents of afforementioned communities continued sleeping in temporary shelters that the municipal authority in Matamoros installed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a map of that area:

http://www.maps-of-mexico.com/tamaulipa ... p-d1.shtml

[Opal storm]

Not surprised,the structures in that area cannot survive a category 3 hurricane.

[gilbert88]

75+ million (dollars) damage so far, here in Monterrey from flood damage...

[flashflood]

In-case anyone missed this. A link to a Texas TV station where some reporters went down into Mexico to film. They were well inland and since landfall was at night, it does not show much and they got out of that area quickly.

http://ww2.abc13.com/global/video/WorldNowASX.asp?

[Brent]

Not surprised at all.

[flashflood]

made a mistake on the other link, tyr this one

http://ww2.abc13.com/global/video/WorldNowASX.asp?playerType=native&ClipID1=477616&h1=Amazing%20video%20of%20Hurricane%20E

[Sanibel]

I was trying to tell people when Emily landfell that its 5mph forward speed was probably causing massive damage. The Laguna Madre shores had hurricane winds piling surge for many hours.

Even Monterrey, far inland, lost bridges to the flooding. The Times said the entire state was covered in floods wiping out roadways and livestock.

If this happened 200 miles further north it would have been a major disaster with major coverage...

[clfenwi]

I was trying to tell people when Emily landfell that its 5mph forward speed was probably causing massive damage. The Laguna Madre shores had hurricane winds piling surge for many hours.

Even Monterrey, far inland, lost bridges to the flooding. The Times said the entire state was covered in floods wiping out roadways and livestock.

If this happened 200 miles further north it would have been a major disaster with major coverage...

Yeah, English language coverage has badly undercovered/trailed events

For example, the death that I mentioned on Thursday
http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic ... 181#965181
that happened on Wednesday, didn't hit the AP until Friday
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/interna ... Emily.html?

and that article doesn't mention the six women that died on Thursday...

[msbee]

If it doesn't hit Florida, the media doens't cover it.
this morning TWC siad that Franklin is sterngthening but is no danger to any land.
Isn't it heading towards Bermuda?
isn't that land?
but it's not USA land so it doesn't count I guess.

I am so sorry for the people in Mexico. I can only imagine the destruction and now that blob is giving them more rain on top of what they already had.

[WeatherEmperor]

If it doesn't hit Florida, the media doens't cover it.
this morning TWC siad that Franklin is sterngthening but is no danger to any land.
Isn't it heading towards Bermuda?
isn't that land?
but it's not USA land so it doesn't count I guess.

I am so sorry for the people in Mexico. I can only imagine the destruction and now that blob is giving them more rain on top of what they already had.

thats not necessarily true. Where I live we have a Telemundo station in South Florida and there was plenty coverage of Emily and her damage. Are they showing coverage there in het Nederlands?

<RICKY>

[Hurricaneman]

Unbelieveable

[Petmom]

If it doesn't hit Florida, the media doens't cover it.
this morning TWC siad that Franklin is sterngthening but is no danger to any land.
Isn't it heading towards Bermuda?
isn't that land?
but it's not USA land so it doesn't count I guess.

I am so sorry for the people in Mexico. I can only imagine the destruction and now that blob is giving them more rain on top of what they already had.

thats not necessarily true. Where I live we have a Telemundo station in South Florida and there was plenty coverage of Emily and her damage. Are they showing coverage there in het Nederlands?

<RICKY>

I am originally from Northern Europe, and I know they have it on the news when we have hurricanes here. My mom is so worried.

I do feel that the media here sometimes don't give much attention when storms hit Mexico and other places.

My heart goes out to the victims of Emily.

[HurricaneQueen]

I've got to agree with msbee. When Luis threated and then destroyed St. Maarten there was coverage before the storm on TWC and CNN because of his massive size and strength.

Afterwards, however, very little was said in the news media from what I hear. (We were totally without communications.) Friends and family were desperate for word of our condition but very little was relayed back to the States.

When I returned home a week later and called the Red Cross to see about assistance I was asked "what hurricane". Granted the American Red Cross is just that- American, but with all of the Americans on the Island one would think they would know something about it! Ten days later Marilyn hit St. Thomas (US) and it was all over the news.

I will concede that it is partially up to the governments of the affected areas and if they do not want the negative publicity that might affect their tourism, the press can't do too much about that. It's sort of a catch 22.

Lynn

[WeatherEmperor]

I've got to agree with msbee. When Luis threated and then destroyed St. Maarten there was coverage before the storm on TWC and CNN because of his massive size and strength.

Afterwards, however, very little was said in the news media from what I hear. (We were totally without communications.) Friends and family were desperate for word of our condition but very little was relayed back to the States.

When I returned home a week later and called the Red Cross to see about assistance I was asked "what hurricane". Granted the American Red Cross is just that- American, but with all of the Americans on the Island one would think they would know something about it! Ten days later Marilyn hit St. Thomas (US) and it was all over the news.

I will concede that it is partially up to the governments of the affected areas and if they do not want the negative publicity that might affect their tourism, the press can't do too much about that. It's sort of a catch 22.

Lynn

Very well said. I remember earlier this week on Mike Watkins' talkin tropics radio show, they were discussing the impacts of Emily on Mexico and they were mentioning that information regarding damage from Emily was incredibly difficult to come by. Its not necessarily that people here dont care, its just that information is hard to come by. Nobody is pointing fingers at the Mexican government, but perhaps they are trying not to hurt their tourism business cause we all know how popular the Mexican resorts are for vacation. Even I went in 2002 to Belize on a cruise. Even here in America when a hurricane hits land, its only on tv for a few days and then its over with, so this whole thing although I agree is frustrating is nothing new really.

<RICKY>

[Sanibel]

I doubt there's much tourism in the ramshackle fishing villages by Laguna Madre. I think it's all money related and people don't care unless there's some serious financial threat...

[Anonymous]

This name is so gone. My hypothetical forecast last spring of 150 mph Hurricane Emily for Pt. Arthur, TX did not pan out, but Mexico took a bad blow.

[clfenwi]

I've got to agree with msbee. When Luis threated and then destroyed St. Maarten there was coverage before the storm on TWC and CNN because of his massive size and strength.

Afterwards, however, very little was said in the news media from what I hear. (We were totally without communications.) Friends and family were desperate for word of our condition but very little was relayed back to the States.

When I returned home a week later and called the Red Cross to see about assistance I was asked "what hurricane". Granted the American Red Cross is just that- American, but with all of the Americans on the Island one would think they would know something about it! Ten days later Marilyn hit St. Thomas (US) and it was all over the news.

I will concede that it is partially up to the governments of the affected areas and if they do not want the negative publicity that might affect their tourism, the press can't do too much about that. It's sort of a catch 22.

Lynn

Very well said. I remember earlier this week on Mike Watkins' talkin tropics radio show, they were discussing the impacts of Emily on Mexico and they were mentioning that information regarding damage from Emily was incredibly difficult to come by. Its not necessarily that people here dont care, its just that information is hard to come by. Nobody is pointing fingers at the Mexican government, but perhaps they are trying not to hurt their tourism business cause we all know how popular the Mexican resorts are for vacation. Even I went in 2002 to Belize on a cruise. Even here in America when a hurricane hits land, its only on tv for a few days and then its over with, so this whole thing although I agree is frustrating is nothing new really.

<RICKY>

Re the parts about the Mexican government and tourism...I don't think it can be said that any news was surpressed about damage. While there was a rosy spin put on it, I think the hard facts got out. While most people were skeptical of the damage reports from Cozumel, independent reports from people on the scene (who don't have a stake in the tourism business) appear to verify the claims.

An example of what I mean by rosy spin: Immediately afterwards, there was something like 90% power outages in the area. The claim was that power would be completely restored in 48 hours. (And indeed, it didn't quite work out that way).

The other thing that isn't a coverup that can cause a misleading image is showing the hotels and saying 'look, no to little damage in the area!' while overlooking the structures that the locals live in.

As far as the second landfall goes, El Universal had a new story every few hours. But as I've been saying next to none of that got into English language press. No one has a vacation planned for Laguna Madre next weekend so 'nobody cares', the media supposes.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

This is no suprized for a cat4 slaming into the area. I never really believed those reports that there was little damage.