We have officially entered peak hurricane season in Baja California Sur. Official hurricane season is between May 15 and November 30 and the peak hurricane season is between August and October.
Hurricane Norma hit Baja last year, just a couple of weeks after I decided to move to La Paz. I followed the news and witnessed the aftermath from Quintana Roo, both of which evoked many emotions as well as questions and thoughts on the topic. I felt deep compassion for all those affected by Norma.
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I was also very grateful to have missed its immediate impact. I knew I might have been blessed enough to miss it that time, but my future is filled with many more hurricane seasons.
I had lived through two hurricane seasons in the Caribbean Sea already, and I had been equally blessed.
Each hurricane season came and went. Some brought a few days of rain but nothing more drastic. I witnessed no flooding or major damage to the property, both of which had happened in previous years in that region.
An old friend, who was born and raised in Mexico City and had no concept of being ready and prepared for a hurricane, recalled being at the grocery store around the eminent approach of a hurricane and how she felt like she was dragged in a Black Friday level madness at the store. People were stocking up on candles, batteries, canned food, matches and other hurricane necessities.
I have never personally witnessed this during my time in Mexico but I am also no stranger to hurricanes.
Being born on the small island of Mauritius, which is strategically located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, my country was perfectly curated to be at the mercy of hurricanes, or cyclones as we call them there. To date, one of our most damaging cyclones on record was in 1994.
Being hurricane-ready runs in my blood.
We always had a drawer in the house, or rather we were supposed to have a drawer in the house, with hurricane essentials. With every threat of cyclones, the entire island would fill the grocery stores, stocking up on essentials. The cyclone classification was as follows: class one, which is an initial alarm, class two: all schools are closed, class three: all government non-essential jobs are closed, and it is recommended to stay at home or take shelter; and the last level was the class four where everyone is recommended to take shelter except for authorized essential workers.
As kids, we all loved cyclones, especially when it meant no school. Teachers were equally fond of the infamous cyclone class two. But no one really wanted it to go beyond. Class three starts to get alarming, and class four is not great news.
In 1994 when cyclone Holanda hit Mauritius, my childhood home was out of electricity for about a week. We had no water and no power. To make matters worse, my parents were renovating our home and the entire family, my dad, mom and sister, took refuge in my room, dragging a mattress over so we could all have a dry and safe place to sleep.
With no electricity and confined in that tiny space, our only source of entertainment was a radio operating on batteries that played local weather updates every fifteen minutes as the main source of communication as well as entertainment. They played different genres of music between the “Cyclone News Flash” sessions. It is worth noting that Mauritius privatized its media, including the radio in the early 2000’s, and in 1994 the radio was, let’s say, very “retro”.
It was during one of these song segments that as a kid, I jumped off the mattress to dance on the floor and discovered that water had been accumulating in my room for hours creating a pool being absorbed by the floor mattress. I clearly remember my poor parents having to deal with their hardwood staircase turning into a waterfall caused by broken branches and leaves clogging the eavestroughs.
These memories are very endearing to me. Cyclones in my childhood, even as bad as Cyclone Holanda, did not really affect my family. In contrast, though, our island was dotted with schools, churches and other government buildings turned into emergency centers. Many had to abandon their homes to seek refuge.
If you live in Baja California and you are an expat, chances are that you will not need to seek refuge in case of a hurricane. We generally have higher-quality hurricane-proof dwellings. Yet, this is not the reality of many here.
In anticipation of the 2024 hurricane season, the authorities have proactively delivered supplies to temporary shelters in Los Planes, San Antonio, Todos Santos and El Carrizal.
“These efforts are carried out with the purpose of keeping the population prepared for any eventuality caused by hydrometeorological phenomena, guaranteeing all the families of La Paz that we will keep working,” said the head of Civil Protection of La Paz, Erick Agúndez.
This year essentials were sent to El Carrizal. Similarly, Los Planes, San Antonio and Todos Santos,
While this is appreciated, what else can we do to be better prepared and mitigate the aftermath?
Hurricanes in Baja are generally less intense than those in Mauritius, but they often cause significant damage. While Baja is a much larger area, we can all learn more from Mauritius’ experience in hurricane preparedness, including strengthening early warning systems, improving infrastructure resilience, enhancing community preparedness, and promoting sustainable land use planning.
If you have any comments or suggestions about hurricane preparedness, reach out to me at: naailah@grigogazette.com
