Preparations
The pre-Rick tropical depression was a threat to Mexico. Hours before upgrading, Mexican officials issued a tropical storm watch for the area between Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán and Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. Three hours before Rick was upgraded to a hurricane, the watch was upgraded to a warning and a hurricane watch was issued and shortly afterward raised to a warning. On November 9, the hurricane warning was extended to Zihuatanejo and Huatulco; warnings for areas west of Zihuatanejo and Lázaro Cárdenas were dropped at the same time. However, warnings for areas west of and including Acapulco remained until lifted three hours later. On November 10, warnings were extended from Punta Maldonado to Tapachula; all warnings west of Punta Maldonado were dropped at that time. Then, Mexico's Interior Ministry declared a state of emergency along the Oaxaca coast. Six hours later, the warnings were downgraded to tropical storm warnings. These warnings remained until they were dropped when Rick was downgraded to a depression.
The people in the coastal areas, most of which were already affected by the more catastrophic Pauline a month ago, were ready for Rick. All major ports along the coast were closed ahead of time in preparation, as well as airports in Huatulco and Puerto Escondido where power failures occurred because of Hurricane Rick. One hundred and thirty Red Cross workers, including twenty that were based in Mexico, who were in the area in the aftermath of Pauline, kept in the area to handle the second hurricane. Many people from Puerto Ángel, Huatulco, and Puerto Escondido (where National Operations Director Bernardino Heredia was overseeing recovery efforts) beach areas were evacuated. During the Puerto Ángel evacuation, helicopters landed carrying soldier and rifles, which one tourist likened to a third-world revolution. In Chiapas, officials watched for flooding along the rivers and upstream river valleys, where the rains from three previous systems caused the ground to saturate and in the state capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, families were evacuated due to rising rivers.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Rick (1997)
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In all the important preparations of the mind she was complete; being prepared for matrimony by an hatred of home, restraint, and tranquillity; by the misery of disappointed affection, and contempt of the man she was to marry. The rest might wait. The preparations of new carriages and furniture might wait for London and the spring, when her own taste could have fairer play.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)