On Wednesday, October 7, 2020, at about 3 am EST the outer bands of Hurricane Delta started to strike our little village. By 4 am we were feeling the full force of the Category 3 hurricane with estimated maximum winds of 110 mph (177 km/hour). The winds roared from the northwest with amazing strength until 5:15 am when everything stopped. We were in the eye of the storm. It was amazing. There was no wind, no rain. Everything was silent and dark. We, like so many others in Puerto Morelos, ran out of our homes to check for damage to our casa, some kids even ran out to play! The eye lasted until about 6:00 am and then the back half of the storm slammed into us. The wind had switched direction, now coming from the southeast, and was stronger than ever. This lasted until about 8:30 am. Then the rain stopped. The wind remained strong, but manageable for the rest of the day.
Puerto Morelos was very lucky. Although we did take a direct hit, the storm dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 just before striking us, causing much less damage than we feared.
At 9:00 am we headed outside to check over our house, Casa de los Viajeros, which many of you know from having stayed with us. We had a few downed roof tiles, but all was well.
Then we headed down to the beach. The wind was still so strong that we had trouble standing, but the beach itself looked beautiful. Mother Nature had done a wonderful job of tidying up. There were a few downed palm trees, but no serious damage to any of the homes or businesses on the beach.
We walked downtown. We were the only people on the street. Rojo Gomez was covered in leaves and tree branches and there were a few downed trees and broken telephone poles, but the homes and businesses looked dry and tight.
We headed to the main town square, which is currently under construction. The businesses around the square were all in good shape with the exception of a few lost awnings and signs.
Unfortunately, the main dock did not fare as well. The end of the dock had been damaged when we were hit by Tropical Storm Gamma on October 3, 2020, but it suffered much more damage from its dance with Delta.
The little shops in the Mayan Handicraft centre suffered a lot of damage to their roofs as you can see in the photo at the top of this post. Unfortunately, St. Joseph (the stained glass window at the church) took some damage as well.
The most damage was to our electric infrastructure. Over 376,396 people lost power during the storm. We were without power for over 30 hours. Several electrical poles on the main road into town toppled, and made it impassible. As we write this now, many people in Puerto Morelos still do not have electricity, but it is returning quickly. Ours came back earlier today. The 4g network was also being powered by a generator, so it was spotty at best.
However, in the usual Puerto Morelos style, everyone stepped up. When we didn’t have power or Internet, the good folks at Casa Toucan, shared their generator and Wi-Fi with everyone in town. They set up power bars on the street for people to recharge and unlocked their Wi-Fi. Neighbours hit the streets, helping to clear downed trees that blocked the roads and picking up signs that had blown off businesses.
Even our local Chedraui was open regular hours this morning, just 24 hours after the storm passed.
So as we all work together to finish the cleanup, we can assure you that all is well in Puerto Morelos and we look forward to seeing you soon!
If you would like to help with Hurricane Delta Relief you can contact mexiCAN Compassion Project, they are helping to rebuild homes that suffered damage. And if you would like to help with the animals that were injured during Delta you can contact Dr. Valeria Suarez.
So long Hurricane Delta, so long Tropical Storm Gamma. Let us get back to our hammocks!