Tropical Storm Lidia
Here's whats been happening post Tropical Storm Lidia...
Last Thursday/ Friday the Baja got hit by Tropical Storm Lidia, in a time when other places are suffering big hurricanes, a mere tropical storm is easily overlooked by the media. However this storm has brought a lot of damage to many areas, not necessarily because of the windspeeds but the amount of rainfall that accompanied the storm. Lidia was born out of an area of low pressure offshore of the west coast of Mexico, conditions were favorable for her development and she became the 12th named storm of the Eastern Pacific Season. She moved northwards offshore before hitting the Baja peninsula near Cabo San Lucas, she then continued north up the peninsula and Sea of Cortez before crossing over into the Pacific Ocean.
In Cabo San Lucas she dropped an estimated 12 inches of rainfall and here in La Paz we got around 6 inches. In the desert environment of southern Baja the ground is impermeable and not particularly absorbent, therefore when we get heavy rainfall it cannot all get soaked up into the soil, we get a lot of runoff and flash flooding. If you drive around the peninsula most of the year you will notice bridges crossing big, dry arroyos (dry river beds) and perhaps you wonder why there is a bridge when there is no river there. Well these arroyos filled with water and runoff and many were full and overflowing on their way to the ocean. These floods have destroyed homes, restaurants and roads here in Baja. Tropical Storm Lidia is known to have claimed 5 lives in Cabo San Lucas.
So now begins the cleanup, some of it needs time, here in La Paz it will take time for the tides and currents to wash out all the sediment in the bay. It will take time to clear the roads and rebuild bridges but people here are resilient and life goes on.
We spent the storm on our boat at the marina and were impressed at the level of protection we received in our location. The main reason we chose this marina was for the tucked away and protected location and it has served us well. The worst of the storm passed over us between 6 and 8am on Friday morning but the rain continued throughout the day. We felt very secure on our floating home.
In light of all the hurricane activity happening right now we feel very fortunate that we did not experience anything worse here in La Paz, our hearts go out to the people of Cabo San Lucas and also to those affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. We urge anyone who lives in a high risk zone to always be prepared throughout the season with extra water and non perishable goods as well as flashlights, radios and fully charged electronic devices. Make sure you know where your nearest shelter is and do not get complacent, overprepared is better than underprepared.
This week the photos are a mixture of my own, taken near the marina in La Paz and also 2 from news outlets of Cabo San Lucas.