The national deluge that no one asked for for their weekend
It seems that nature decided that Mexico needed a clean hurricane without warning. The National Civil Protection Coordination (CNPC) has just released the report that confirms what all of us in our Instagram stories were already documenting: the intense rains this morning gave a beating to 31 entities in the country. Yes, you read that right, practically the entire national map became an aquatic meme, with the exception of Baja California Sur, which for some cosmic reason was saved from this wet saga.
But it’s not just about photogenic puddles. The damage is serious, the kind that ruins plans, furniture and even patience. The states that bore the brunt of this climate reality show were Veracruz, Puebla and San Luis Potosí, with Querétaro, Hidalgo and Guerrero following in their footsteps with serious effects. Basically, if you have family or friends in these places, better send them a message asking if they need an ark.
Veracruz: the epicenter of water chaos
According to Laura Velázquez Alzúa, Veracruz won the dubious honor of being the most affected state – because in these natural disasters there are also rankings, apparently. Here the situation is so extreme that 38 municipalities report damage and approximately 5 thousand homes are affected. In the municipality of Álamo alone, things got worse than the end of Game of Thrones, with overflowing streams, various landslides and six temporary shelters that already house 523 people.
On scene the emergency plans sound as if they were the government’s Avengers: the Plan DN-III, the Plan Marina and state and federal Civil Protection brigades are operating to control the chaos. Because when nature becomes dramatic, it is time to bring out the entire institutional arsenal.
The national disaster tour
In Querétaro, the Jalpan River decided that it was already bored with its course and overflowed with all the attitude, affecting five municipalities with landslides, road collapses and urban flooding. Personnel from the Ministry of Infrastructure and the National Guard are engaged in cleaning and removal work, basically doing their best while dealing with the mud.
San Luis Potosí was not far behind in this competition to see which state is the most in disaster, registering damage in 11 municipalities. Two of them have hill collapses and overflows of the Axla and Moctezuma rivers, because when it rains, it floods. Meanwhile, a housing evaluation is carried out and the DN-III Plan is still active, because this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Puebla has 26 municipalities affected with landslides and several rivers that also chose the freedom to overflow. A school and a hospital in Huauchinango suffered flooding, because the water does not respect even the places that should be sacred. The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is working to restore electrical service in the damaged areas, because without electricity we cannot even adequately document the drama for our networks.
And for the chapter of unnecessary records, Guerrero, particularly Zihuatanejo, recorded the highest rainfall in the country with 151 millimeters of rain, which caused puddles and flooding that would make scenes from Titanic look like a dip in the pool.
And the icing on the climate cake: Raymond
As if normal rains weren’t enough plot twist, Tropical Storm Raymond is moving parallel to the Pacific, causing additional rains in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Michoacán. Because in the universe they decided that this weekend would have to be aquatic themed.
Civil Protection confirmed this morning in the conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo that the emergency protocols continue to be activated and warned that the rains will persist during the weekend. I mean, get ready because this is not going to end soon. The official call is to follow the alerts and preventive measures, which in millennial language translates as: “don’t create adventurous influencers, it’s better to stay home watching Netflix.”
The situation is serious, but among so much water tragedy, at least we have the consolation that memes about the climate are never lacking. Although with so many states affected and considerable damage to infrastructure and homes, our mood can quickly run out when the water reaches our own living room.
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