Just a few days after I arrived in Mazatán, some other expats made me aware of a tropical storm warning. Storm KAY was supposed to hit the region.
I had never been in any serious storm and didn’t really know what to do. So, like any normal human being in this day and age, I googled what to do in a storm. Turns out I needed candles, water, food and to expect power outages.
I went about looking for the necessary items to prepare myself while also checking the government website on the status of that storm (always using Google Translator).
After one or two days of worry, I was relieved to learn that Mazatlán was not going to be hit directly. The storm would hit the Baja peninsula but not the mainland. Awesome! Well, not for the Baja peninsula inhabitants, of course…
While the storm didn’t hit Mazatlán with full force, we did have a few very windy and rainy nights. Any time there is a rain event in Mazatlán, the streets flood for hours after, so it’s impossible to cross them without wading through ankle-deep water. The main impact, though, was the waves coming in from the ocean.
Intrigued to see what was going on, I went to the closest “beach” and discovered that it had basically disappeared. The waves came crashing in all the way up to the seawall and buildings.
Taking photos and a video (see below), I got soaked by a couple of waves crashing over the top of the seawall. I’m sure the people around me got a good chuckle.
It ended up taking a few days, almost a week, until the water receded and normal activities could resume on the beaches. Also below is a short video of the beach before the storm in the same location, so you can compare.
Me again. I have never experienced a tropical storm or worse. Well there was the rain storm of ’89 in MTL. Water was knee deep and we had to form arm bridges to get across the street. Ruined my favourite loofers but well you know the story. Be careful over there! Most people don’t run to the storm ya know. Band sounds nice? tried any good street food or Tequila Yet?