Hurricane Rick (1997) - Impact

Impact

The damage from Rick was minor in comparison to Pauline. In Oaxaca, the hurricane was responsible for dumping 10 inches (250 mm) of rain onto the state, which in turn resulted in mudslides and flash floods in areas earlier ravaged by Pauline. These rains also resulted in the sea level rising three feet above normal levels due to high waves generated during its passage. The hurricane was also responsible for rendering bridges and roads unpassable in the state, which had only recently been repaired after they were damaged by two prior hurricanes: 1995's Hurricane Roxanne in the Atlantic and Pauline, which had weakened bridges a month prior, allowing Rick to topple them, including a bridge near Puerto Escondido which left a 15-foot (4.6 m) deep gap in the road. Among the major roads that were cut off were a mountain road from Puerto Angel to Oaxaca City, a route used to link the coast with Mexico City, and a route from Puerto Escondido with Acapulco. A total of 10.47 inches (266 mm) of rainfall, the highest total caused by Rick, was recorded in Astata/San Pedro Huameluca, which was near the point where the hurricane made landfall. Telephone communications and traffic were cut off to many villages in the wake of the hurricane.

Although Rick was much weaker than Pauline, there were some areas where Rick's impact was greater than that of Pauline's. One such place was the village of El Tomatal, located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Puerto Escondido. There, eight houses were destroyed and roofs were torn off of many others, which residents attributed to more rain than in Pauline, even though the winds were roughly equal. Although there were no casualties, the hurricane caused more than 2000 people to become homeless. Most of what Pauline had left behind was destroyed by Rick, which one resident said was like "Pauline came to harvest the corn, and Rick came to harvest the peanuts."

In the United States, Rick had a temporary economic impact when, during its time off the shore of Chiapas and Oaxaca, it caused the price of coffee to rise 4.7 percent to $1.5685 per pound on the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in New York, the highest total it reached since October 16. Mexico is the United States's largest source of coffee imports and Oaxaca and Chiapas are the largest coffee growing regions in Mexico. Like the impact in El Tomatal, Rick's effects were much worse than Pauline's because Rick threatened the coffee crop when the beans were more susceptible to winds that could blow them off.