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chi83

Hurricane Patricia

10 years ago

I am SO worried for the people of Mexico. This is the strongest storm ever recorded, and popped up in intensity with very little warning. Many people aren't able to evacuate, and the structures are not meant to sustain storms like this.

I pray everyone stays safe but I worry that there will be significant loss. I worry for the animals too.

Comments (9)

  • 10 years ago

    It certainly does look scary. I read that it made landfall with winds of 165 mph. I guess we'll know more tomorrow.

  • 10 years ago

    210 mph at landfall in some areas :(

  • 10 years ago

    I too am worried. Puerta Vallarta is one of my favorite vacation spots due to the people there and the mountains. I like to travel alone, and in the 5 trips there, never once have I felt un-safe walking around town at night. The people are kind and helpful, and many have so little.

    May they all be safe from this monster storm.

  • 10 years ago

    I'm surprised that not many people seem to care. For those who do, here's a description from someone who lived through it. It sounds terrifying. I am glad that the damage doesn't seem to be as bad as anticipated but I worry that there are still places that haven't been heard from.

    https://www.facebook.com/iCyclone/posts/10153433315334597:0

    Why am I posting a picture of a dark bathroom with a mattress wedged
    in the ceiling? Because it protected me and seven other people.

    Hurricane PATRICIA. All I can say is: terrifying storm.

    After an hour or two of violent, destructive winds in Emiliano Zapata,
    the pressure bottomed out at 937.8 mb at 6:12 pm. We saw brightness in
    the sky and some touches of blue, and while the wind was still
    dangerous, it seemed to be a little less energetic for a few minutes. (I
    notice that the NHC's landfall point was *very* close to us! So it
    looks like we might have been skirting the edge of the eye at this
    time.) Then the pressure started to rapidly rise, and I assumed the
    worst of the hurricane had passed. Actually, it hadn't started. (Ugh.)

    At 6:34 pm the wind shifted sharply and a wall of wind and rain swept
    in, engulfing the hotel with a howling, whistling sound. There was a
    complete whiteout. The building trembled. Things were crashing-- big
    crashes as the hotel started to blow apart. Erik and I retreated to our
    room. A frightened hotel worker joined us and we stood in the dark, not
    sure what to do. We heard a terrific explosion and assumed the roof had
    blown off. (We were right.) Minutes later a man burst into the room-- a
    family across the hall was in trouble-- their room had torn open-- roof,
    ceiling, and all had all blown away. Erik rushed across the hall--
    which was now a wind tunnel-- and helped them into our room. Then all of
    us-- six adults and two children-- crammed into the bathroom: the
    family around the toilet, Erik and me in the shower stall, two hotel
    workers next to the sink, all of us pressed against each other in the
    darkness like trapped animals. Roaring. Crashing. The mother wept-- she
    was freaked out. I told her not to worry-- told her (in broken Spanish)
    we were totally safe-- but I was talking nonsense, telling a lie. More
    crashing. We put pillows and blankets over the children, and Erik and I
    put computer bags over our heads and got low. Water was streaming from
    the ceiling and we expected it to blow away any second. So Erik and the
    two workers and I pulled the mattress off the bed and squeezed it into
    the bathroom. We tore the shower doors out to make room, then lifted the
    mattress up over everyone and wedged it in to make an extra ceiling.
    And we waited.

    The howling continued, but the pressure was
    rising fast-- into the 960s, then '70s-- and I knew we'd clear the core
    soon... just a few more minutes of this insanity. And by maybe 7 pm or
    so, we did. We crept out to look at the devastation-- smashed rooms,
    mountains of debris, trees stripped bare. And as it got dark the wind
    slowly calmed... And we had a tranquil night sleeping on a damp
    mattress, the crickets chirping all hours in the black, sticky calm.

    On a meteorological note: The pressure gradient in the core of this
    cyclone was frightening. The pressure recovered explosively-- 31 mb in
    26 minutes (6:24 - 6:50 pm) (!!) and an incredible 15 mb in just 9
    minutes (6:34 - 6:43 pm) while the winds ripped apart the hotel. It was
    an incredible, frightening experience (and honor) to punch the core of
    this Cat-5 hurricane-- the strongest known landfall ever in the Eastern
    Pacific. My video footage is messy, shaky, and wild, but I believe it
    captures the terror of the experience and I hope to post it soon.

    I need to give a HUGE thanks to the team that made this chase awesome:
    my right-hand man in Texas, Scott Brownfield; James Hyde; and Jorge
    Abelardo Gonzalez. They all helped us interpret PATRICIA's complex
    motion in those frantic final hours as we tried to pinpoint the
    landfall. And I also want to thank Erik Sereno, who's been an awesome
    chase partner. Thanks also to Eric Blake, of the National Hurricane
    Center, for his valuable insights on off hours. And finally, I want to
    thank all the members of this page who give so much encouragement-- it
    helps during really tough chases like PATRICIA.

    Erik and I spent
    much of the morning helping clean up the wreckage at our hotel, and now
    we're almost to Manzanillo. We're gonna sleep well tonight.

  • 10 years ago

    I can't get on FB for some reason tonight. Is s/he a storm chaser? Sounds like it. What pressure were they measuring? Barometric?

    Yes, it certainly does sound terrifying.

  • 10 years ago

    Yeah he's a storm chaser. I am glad he was there as they may have saved that family.

  • 10 years ago

    Are you able to get on FB, Chi? I've tried with two browsers, but no go. A friend picked up her rescue puppy today--it arrived from CT--and I want to see the pics she posted. Guess I'll ask her to email them to me.

  • 10 years ago

    Yep I see you online too so I think it's just you unfortunately.

  • 10 years ago

    Thanks!