Hurricane Patricia

A prepared Mexico population has escaped relatively well from the fury of Pacific Ocean borne Hurricane Patricia, now downgraded to a category-1. However as the weather system moved north the Texas in the USA, record rains have been dumped causing widespread flooding.

Zian Aguirre XE1ATZ reported that Manzanillo in the Mexican state of Colima, an emergency net on 7060 kHz was backed up by 14120 kHz and 21120 kHz, to handle traffic. He reported that a state of emergency exists in three Mexican states. The storm has downgraded to category-1, causing minimal effects to the population, and civil protection protocols worked very well.

It downed trees, flooding streets, and buffeted buildings as a category-5 storm, but lost strength in the mountains and was downgraded to a tropical storm. Initially when it made landfall in western Mexico with rain and winds of up to 266km/h, it was one of the strongest ever hurricanes.

Major damage did not happen because it missed large population centres. About 15,000 tourists hurriedly evacuated the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta as people followed instructions necessary for those in its possible path. The full outcome of Hurricane Patricia on Mexico, and a report on its effects on Texas where half a metre of rain has fallen, are still not yet known.

Thanks are being expressed for keeping the emergency frequencies clear.

-Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee.

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