# Hurricane Odile



## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Lets keep the expats in Baja California Sur in our thoughts and prayers as Hurricane Odlie makes its way through that area.


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## Playaboy (Apr 11, 2014)

Not only the expats but everybody in that area.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

All the way to Arizona



















8" of rain in southern Jalisco with moderate winds

Another forming south


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

we start praying with the letter O?


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

This particular hurricane is being labeled the strongest on record to hit Baja California and it's currently working its way up the east coast of Baja.



> Hurricane Odile made history by tying the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on Mexico's Baja California peninsula (with Hurricane Olivia in 1967) in the satellite era.
> 
> According to the National Hurricane Center, Odile made landfall at about 10:45 p.m. MDT Sunday near Cabo San Lucas with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.


Source: 
Hurricane Odile Forecast: Historic Cyclone Hammering Southern Baja California - weather.com


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

The forums at Baja Nomad are a good place to check for photos of damage and reports regarding specific locations.


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## robydonna (Mar 21, 2014)

*Rob*

Watching things unfold from the safety of Victoria, BC. "OMG!" just doesn't seem to cut it.... We own a piece of property in Palo Verde. We're concerned but it's nothing to what I'm sure others are going through trying to reach relatives and loved ones in the area.

Our prayers and best wishes for all souls in Baja today.


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## Playaboy (Apr 11, 2014)

I lived on the Riviera Maya in 2005 when 2 hurricanes, Emily and Wilma, smacked the area hard. The Mexican government does a great job protecting lives during the storm. They are very good in recovering from the destruction too.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

From the photos I've seen and the discussion I've read on a Baja forum, there appears to have been some serious damage to structures and roadways, particularly in Baja Sur. By the end of the week, or over the weekend, another storm - still a Tropical Storm - is following a track up the Pacific which the weather specialists predict will also hit Cabo San Lucas head-on. So there will be a lot of disruption in that part of the country for probably the month ahead until roads are repaired, power/telephone lines put back into service, etc.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Here's a link to some photos taken in the past couple of days in Cabo San Lucas:

#hurricaneodile Instagram tagged photos - EnjoyGram


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

It was nasty and pretty scary in the middle of the night in pitch darkness. Power just came on this afternoon after being out since Sunday night. Driving around yesterday evening (searching successfully for candles and in vain for ice) I saw a lot of damage in central La Paz. Countless trees down, windows gone, roofs and parking shelters blown off or collapsed. A gas station virtually leveled. An enormous bank sign tilted over into the building next to it. The big "M" over McDonald's twisted into an unrecognizable glop of yellow. Driving itself was hazardous, with stop signs gone and traffic lights nonfunctional, not to mention the streets being filled with debris and bottomless potholes, some with electric cables dangling across them. I'm amazed that CFE got us back up so quickly. As of yesterday evening they were reporting on the radio that only 17% of the city had power.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

makaloco said:


> It was nasty and pretty scary in the middle of the night in pitch darkness. Power just came on this afternoon after being out since Sunday night. Driving around yesterday evening (searching successfully for candles and in vain for ice) I saw a lot of damage in central La Paz. Countless trees down, windows gone, roofs and parking shelters blown off or collapsed. A gas station virtually leveled. An enormous bank sign tilted over into the building next to it. The big "M" over McDonald's twisted into an unrecognizable glop of yellow. Driving itself was hazardous, with stop signs gone and traffic lights nonfunctional, not to mention the streets being filled with debris and bottomless potholes, some with electric cables dangling across them. I'm amazed that CFE got us back up so quickly. As of yesterday evening they were reporting on the radio that only 17% of the city had power.


Thanks for your eye-witness account of the aftermath of Odile's destructive powers. Did your home emerged unscathed? Hope things get back to some semblance of normal in the very near future.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Great to hear makaloco is ok, the ays and sometimes weeks after a hurricane are no fun so good luck to you.


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## Playaboy (Apr 11, 2014)

citlali said:


> Great to hear makaloco is ok, the ays and sometimes weeks after a hurricane are no fun so good luck to you.


Mexico will recover essential services and roads a lot faster than if this happened in the USA. Re-building will start quickly. Mexican officials don't have to have so many meetings to decide what to fix next, they just get the job done.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Playaboy said:


> Mexico will recover essential services and roads a lot faster than if this happened in the USA.


Not likely.



Playaboy said:


> Mexican officials don't have to have so many meetings to decide what to fix next, they just get the job done.


:flypig:


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Playaboy said:


> Mexico will recover essential services and roads a lot faster than if this happened in the USA. Re-building will start quickly. Mexican officials don't have to have so many meetings to decide what to fix next, they just get the job done.


Very true. It has happened with downed electricity already. On a Baja Facebook site a guy posted a video Mon. of a caravan of about 60 CFE trucks and equipment from probably all over the Baja península travelling south near Los Cabos. Fast indeed. 

The CFE is not privately owned and has no stockholders and CEOs to contend with as in the US to talk about who ´pays and where the money comes from first. Very insightful of you. 

People who compare US services for profit and Mexican services for non profit just can´t understand what it is like to live here. 

Mexican Army airlifting stranded tourists on Sunday, very fast. Curfew already in place and the military patrolling for looters. Alan


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## Playaboy (Apr 11, 2014)

Longford said:


> Not likely.
> 
> 
> 
> :flypig:


Longford, I lived it in 2005 on the Riviera Maya. I was amazed at how fast and efficient things progressed. Mexico is so much better organized than the USA when it comes to disaster re-building. 

Mexico had equipment, replacement power poles and earth moving equipment, pre-stationed along the Baja (info from a friend in Mulege). CFE workers don't need to wait for a bucket truck to string power lines. They know how to climb power poles in the pitch dark. They work around the clock. Most places will have power back in less than a week.

Sit back and watch how fast things get fixed. In the USA they are still fixing stuff in New Orleans and it will take years for the re-building after Sandy. In a year's time you won't even know that a hurricane destroyed much of Cabo.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Here's a link to 100+ photos of the aftermath in Baja Sur:

Hurricane Odile Slams Mexico's Baja Peninsula (PHOTOS) - weather.com


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

My house came through fine apart from downed branches and debris covering front and back patios and in the pool, which I think also overflowed. The cover of my tinaco (roof water tank) blew off, as did those of most neighbors. We found several and distributed them around. A few people lost their tanks entirely. Part of my next-door neighbor's laminate roof was on my roof and patio. Another neighbor's big metal gates blew off, and yet another has a tree down on her wall. Everybody is still cleaning up. Garbage trucks finally came by this morning. I spent yesterday evening cooking defrosted food so I could re-freeze it.

I agree with Playaboy that official response has been excellent. I called CFE's 071 hotline on Monday, expecting to get a recording. I was floored when a gentleman came on the line to talk to me. Telmex called with a recorded message to stay off the phone because they were making repairs. One local news site reported that they sent 200 technicians from the mainland by plane to BCS. Getting back to "normal" will take time, but restoring power and communications is a tremendous relief.


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## Playaboy (Apr 11, 2014)

makaloco said:


> My house came through fine apart from downed branches and debris covering front and back patios and in the pool, which I think also overflowed. The cover of my tinaco (roof water tank) blew off, as did those of most neighbors. We found several and distributed them around. A few people lost their tanks entirely. Part of my next-door neighbor's laminate roof was on my roof and patio. Another neighbor's big metal gates blew off, and yet another has a tree down on her wall. Everybody is still cleaning up. Garbage trucks finally came by this morning. I spent yesterday evening cooking defrosted food so I could re-freeze it.
> 
> I agree with Playaboy that official response has been excellent. I called CFE's 071 hotline on Monday, expecting to get a recording. I was floored when a gentleman came on the line to talk to me. Telmex called with a recorded message to stay off the phone because they were making repairs. One local news site reported that they sent 200 technicians from the mainland by plane to BCS. Getting back to "normal" will take time, but restoring power and communications is a tremendous relief.


Glad to hear you were one of the lucky ones. I found that disasters brings neighbors together. Use this incident to get to build relationships and community.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes CFE is pretty good after a disaster. In San Cristobal the tornadoes downed a lot of electrical lines and one hour after the tornadoes CFE was fixing the damages and arriving with new cement poles and so on . We were not without electricity for very long but water is another story in our barrio ...


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Looking at the video reports on the Televisa news these past couple of days, my sense is Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo will be disrupted for 6 months to a year before resembling how things were before this hurricane. The property damage has been massive. Cancun took a long time to recover from the hurricane which hit there in several or more years ago and the damage at the los Cabos communities looks to have been greater. Not many reports or video/photos of damage elsewhere in Baja are making their way onto the internet yet. Some photos, but the reports of damages are still spotty. Baja Nomads forums continue to be an excellent source of good information for areas of Baja Sur and elsewhere in Baja for areas outside of the los Cabos.


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

I think "world visibility and opinion" has a part to play in the CFE response. 
A guy "ripped out" our meter on a Friday afternoon and threw it on the sidewalk, breaking it into 1007 pieces. Called CFE (we had just come back from buying groceries about 2 hours before), and they told us they would respond within 72 hours. Monday, about 11:15 a.m., we got a new meter. Wonder who pays for this meter and lost food?


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)




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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

Wow. Not much more one can say.

People from Cabo San Lucas were at a neighbor's house today. They had come to La Paz (a two-hour drive each way under normal circumstances) to buy groceries and to send their kids by air to stay with relatives on the mainland. The man said, "We adults can eat anything, but for the children this is all very difficult." Apparently supplies are scarce in Los Cabos, especially with power still off and in the wake of a lot of hoarding and looting. They were amazed at how much was already up and running here, and so was I. Gas stations, supermarkets, bakery, pet store, taco stands, just about every business that hadn't been severely damaged. The Bancomer in El Centro was open (it's normally closed on Saturdays) and its ATMs had money. Some stores were accepting at least local debit cards. I managed to buy things like meat, lettuce, and half and half, none of which I expected to see for another month or more. Shelves with canned goods were denuded, so there has been hoarding here, too, but I don't believe we've had the looting that has been reported in Los Cabos. While waiting in the long checkout line at Chedraui, I had a conversation with an elderly woman who moved here 20 years ago from Mazatlán. She said she'd never seen a storm this bad in either location. Tragically, two people are confirmed dead after their sailboats sank or capsized in La Paz Bay during the hurricane. A third is still missing.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Some additonal video of the damage in the los Cabos area, supposedly taken 5-days after the hurricane struck:


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