Hurricane Pamela hits Mazatlán

 So it’s been a crazy 48 hours here. As I write this Hurricane Pamela just tore through this city and our power is down. I’ll post this once we have wifi again.

  The last week and a half I’ve been so preoccupied with Halloween mask orders that I barely paid attention to the weather. I knew a storm was coming but Tropical storms come and go all the time here, and I had work to do. When I finally raised my head and looked around less than 12 hours before it arrived, everyone’s saying it’s a category three storm with a direct hit. Landfall in Mazatlan. Usually, all the hurricanes hit Cabo first or Puerto Vallarta and roll up the coast.   

   So I joined the panicked shoppers in Walmart. It was crazy. We waited to enter to store in a long line. I got in there and there were no carts, eventually, I found a basket. Everyone was tense, there were no flashlights, no batteries (the employee who I asked about batteries was the only one with a smile on their face, she laughed for a good 2-3 minutes). 

  I left with mostly candles passing the excessively armed National Guard. I very slowly (traffic was a nightmare) drove by a line for the convention center. The designated shelter had about 100 cars waiting to get in. It turns out panic shopping is not a good way to ease anxiety! Who knew?

  The rain began on our walk with Oscar. He’s an annoying dog to walk. He pulled us far from the house and a light sprinkle turned into a downpour in an instant. So blocks and blocks of rushing through the rain, trying not to slip. I might as well have jumped in the ocean.

   Our evening was fine. The first edge of the storm raged, but we hunkered down. We finally managed to go to bed at around 1:45 am . At about 4:30 am, Mike woke me up with his running around. It turns out everything was leaking. We had to gather buckets and fast! I started mopping up, and getting towels. Mike ran into the garage to get more buckets and I heard him yelling. With the way the wind sounded I was sure there was an accident, but no. He was surrounded by giant cockroaches that wanted to come into our house. He was fending them off with the mop! At 5am the power finally gave up. So I went to bed.

Water in the hallway

Around 7am we were woken by an explosion. Then another with a bright flash of orange through the windows. Later we learned this was 2 transformers exploding on our street. The wind was howling, the rain was steady and there’s a constant rumble of something immense and powerful.

Downed planter on Cameron Sábalo

  I remember when category 4 and 5 storms were terrorizing the Caribbean a few years ago and President Trump suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on one. Everyone thought it was hilarious because of course that would just create radioactive wind and rain. However, it’s not as crazy as it sounds. They have suggested this in the past to de-escalate a hurricane before it hits land, but what they discovered is that none of our bombs are strong enough to stop these monsters in their tracks. Even a 50 mega-ton bomb wouldn't be enough. Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are more powerful than most people can understand.

Lost Sea-Bird after the storm in the highway median

I finally woke at 10am. The storm had already blown through. Our house was wet inside and out, but it was over.

    I took a walk to the beach this morning. There’s damage everywhere and people cleaning. Many dazed-looking tourists walking about, back from their night at the convention center.

When I got to the beach I found this. Surfers riding the crazy waves that were still churned up by the storm. This is just one of about 15 guys I saw out there.

As for me right now, I'm making Halloween masks by candlelight as we wait not so patiently for electricity.