'The hurricane finished us'
2005-07-21 07:57
San Fernando - A weakened Hurricane Emily triggered flooding outside Mexico's third largest city on Wednesday night, after demolishing homes, toppling trees and sparking thousands of evacuations on the northern Gulf Coast.
Emily had weakened to a tropical storm, but was still moving inland with torrential downpours and stiff winds that washed out roads and highways and caused flooding in and around Monterrey, whose metro area is home to three million. Authorities cancelled dozens of flights at the international airport and set up shelters to accommodate evacuees and anyone whose homes were damaged.
There were no reports of deaths or major injuries here or elsewhere, but the wind peeled metal roofs off houses and flooded fields, making the highway look like a dike across a sea.
Outside of town, three corrugated metal grain silos had crumbled to the ground and lay next to another which had been destroyed when Hurricane Gilbert tore through the area in 1988.
No report of deaths
Eugenio Hernandez, governor of Tamaulipas state, which includes San Fernando, said officials were still accessing damage but that his office had not received reports of deaths. He said some people had to be evacuated on Wednesday night because of a rain-swollen river.
One of the hardest-hit areas was the fishing village of Carbonera, where many of those who had been evacuated returned to find their homes destroyed. Impromptu lakes of floodwaters were everywhere.
"The hurricane finished us," said Javier Hernandez Galvin, a 45-year-old fisherman who, because of a shortage of clothing, was barefoot, wearing only pink shorts and an old blue T-shirt.
Galvin's home survived the storm, but a shed where he stored his fishing equipment and boat had been reduced to scraps of wood.
Emily was losing strength as it moved west across northern Mexico late on Wednesday night. But authorities in Nuevo Leon state, which includes Monterrey, declared a red alert, anticipating more Emily-related flooding.
Its landfall in the pre-dawn hours marked the second time in three days the storm hit Mexico. Emily was a Category 4 hurricane when it tore across the Yucatan Peninsula with 217km/h winds on Monday.
Carbonera was considered too unsafe for even emergency officials to remain behind, but at least 10 people waited out Emily without leaving town.
On the Yucatan Peninsula, Emily ripped roofs off resort hotels and stranded thousands of tourists along the popular Mayan Riviera, which includes the resort of Cancun.
But by Wednesday, tourists who had decided not to cancel their vacations were returning slowly to the beaches as many hotels announced that they were reopening after suffering only minor damages.
Although the storm halted oil production temporarily, it didn't appear to have caused any major damage in the southern Gulf.
- AP