Newspaper article on Coz flooding

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parrotheaddiver

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Southeast of Disorder...and San Marcos, Texas
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I'm a Fish!
found this on another board. My heart goes out to all those that were affected.

IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY
The rains leave unquantifiable damages in Cozumel

The strong rains that fell during the lst 72 hours in the peninsula left Cozumel severely inundated, where they report 20,000 disaster victims and 80 percent of the streets damaged and/or under water.

Cozumel was declared to be in a state of emergency since Sunday morning and given the magnitude of the disaster, the secretary of goverment authorized monies from the national disaster fund be used for repairs and cleanup, as well as to assist thousands of affected families.

Governor Joaquin Hendricks Diaz travelled to the island to view the preliminary damages and visited a number of neighborhoods including 10 de Abril, Urba, Emiliano Zapata, San Gervasio, San Miguel I and II, Flamingos, and CTM.

Authorities stated that a natural phenomenon of this magnitude has not been recorded in ten years, where 527 milliliters of water fell over a 48 hour period, flooding businesses, homes, schools and public buildings. The damages are unquantifiable at this time with families reporting the loss of all of their personal belongings and hundreds of vehicles stranded.

Up to this point there have been no injuries or deaths attributed to the flooding.

The Cozumel airport was closed two nights with the runway under more than half a meter of water, and hundreds of tourists were transported to Cancun to connect with their departing flights.

In a separate article:

Yesterday 800 tourists had to be transported to the Cancun airport to take their return flight home and others were evacuated from their hotels in the northern zone of the island. Several hotels in that area were flooded, with water actually entering into the buildings themselves.

More rain is expected in the coming hours, but with less intensity.

Governor Hendricks arrived in Cozumel by boat around 3:30 PM, accompanied by state representatives from the water commission and civil protection, to evaluate the damages.

At that time the civil protection department reported 454 persons in shelters. Some sections of Emiliano Zapata, Flamingos and San Gervasio neighborhoods were without electricity and water.

Drainage:
Saturday authorities were forced to bring in heavy equipment to break cement along the northern waterfront, permitting water to drain off into the ocean.

The governor informed that if it became necessary more drain off sites could be opened. For right now, DIF (family services) will be in charge of providing families with food, blankets and medical attention.

He also said that the secretary of government would soon provide resources for rehabilitating the city, and that water pumps would be coming from the state of Campeche in the near future.
 
z28pwr:
Just my luck. I'm supposed to leave Friday for the Island. I'm glad that everyone is OK.

Much better this Friday than last.

I of course have no way to be sure, but I'm willing to bet that by this Friday a lot of things will be back to normal. Don' worry, be happy.

Bring plenty of DEET, though.
 
ggunn:
Much better this Friday than last.

I of course have no way to be sure, but I'm willing to bet that by this Friday a lot of things will be back to normal. Don' worry, be happy.

I hope so, I've been looking forward to this.

Bring plenty of DEET, though.

I learned this one the hard way.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for the article parrothead. Any word on a reliable source that we can go through to help?

Dan Kom, glad to hear that you are o.k. and your property is not trashed. I'm sure ppl. lost a lot of irreplaceable items. I grew up in tornado alley in oklahoma and have seen similar, as if that is any consolation.

Thoughts and prayers are with you.
 
sealskin98:
Thanks for the article parrothead. Any word on a reliable source that we can go through to help?

Dan Kom, glad to hear that you are o.k. and your property is not trashed. I'm sure ppl. lost a lot of irreplaceable items. I grew up in tornado alley in oklahoma and have seen similar, as if that is any consolation.

Thoughts and prayers are with you.

I don't, but Christi, Dan Kom, or Cozumelinsider may have some ideas.
 
Just flew back in today, Parrot had the room next to mine. Coz is not a pretty sight right now. The water front areas are pretty much ok, but head to the airport and it is a mess. The airport was flooded outside as well as inside, the neighborhoods around the airport look like a lake.

This is the most rain that they have had in 16 years is what I was told, also there may be more rain through the week which with the amount that is there now will just worsen the problems.

Rick
 
I returned from Cozumel on 6-19-04, and part of the island was still flooded. We were there during the down pour, and had to walk in the rain, with water up to our knees for about a half mile, cause there were no taxis running that night.
 
thanx for the article Parrothead, this is the first i've heard of this! hope all our friends get dryed out. it doesn't take much to flood those streets!!!
i'll keep my beak pointed that way for some good news
fellow parrothead,
sharky
 

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