Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Hurricane Dean takes on Mexico City and wins."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2007 > August > 23 > Entry
Hurricane Dean takes on Mexico City and wins
Even under perfect conditions, Mexico City’s infrastructure lives on the edge of chaos. Throw in a torrential downpour - like the one that soaked this city yesterday as a result of Hurricane Dean - and the city’s traffic grid seizes like an engine without oil.
The hurricane left historic rainfall amounts in the capital and officials reported that the city’s drainage system reached its maximum capacity at about 8 p.m., just as the rains began to slacken. Whole neighborhoods flooded with filthy black water; major thoroughfares were covered with several feet of water.
When we flew into the airport yesterday evening, fresh from covering Dean’s ravages in the Yucatan, we found the city effectively shut down. It took our cursing taxi driver almost two hours to navigate the gridlocked streets near the airport. It was a terrifying ride, quite frankly, but it seemed as though some unseen algorithm kept the cars from colliding no matter how fast they darted through the smallest of spaces.
Comments
By James
August 23, 2007 9:50 PM | Link to this
I have seen no coverage here regarding Dean’s effects on Mexico City. Was there much flooding? Is flooding in Mexico City rare? Where does flood water drain?
By Jeremy Schwartz
August 24, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this
James, good questions, especially on what happens to all the flood water. First off, flooding happens here constantly, nearly every time it rains (and in the summer that’s almost every day). The main drainage pipe, the so-called Grand Canal, is barely functioning, mostly because of over-exploitation of groundwater which has caused pipes to sink and settle.
Since Mexico City sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, there is no natural drainage outlet and it is quite complicated and expensive to get rid of all the wastewater (it must be tunneled through the surrounding mountains). Much goes to neighboring Hidalgo state, where it is blamed for a host of environmental problems.
Officials have been warning lately of a mega-flood of wastewater. It sounds like Hurricane Dean brought the city fairly close to that scenario as the drainage infrastructure was working at maximum capacity during the height of the storm. Luckily the rains subsided before the pipes overflowed.
There is a lot to fix here, but the good news is that the new administration has pledged millions in drainage upgrades.
By Joy
August 24, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this
Which neighborhoods are least likely to flood?
By Jeremy Schwartz
August 24, 2007 1:58 PM | Link to this
Coyoacan (home to the Cox offices) is remarkably flood-free. Flooding tends to get worse closer to downtown - Condesa and Roma have had some really bad flooding in the past.
By kermit keeter
August 24, 2007 5:53 PM | Link to this
can you please tell how much rain fell across mexico city and/or nearby areas from Dean? I’ve been unable to find totals and was hoping to get an ideal of how much rain brought the city so close to what its drainge systems can handle.
Thank you for the informtaion you have provided - very informative.
By Jeremy Schwartz
August 25, 2007 4:06 PM | Link to this
Hi Kermit, This El Universal story mentions 30 million cubic meters of rain on Wednesday, over 14 hours. But believe it or not, even more rain fell yesterday here than on Wednesday, creating an absolute traffic disaster. People abandoned there cars on the Periferico, an elevated loop that goes around the city. At 10 p.m. it looked like the height of rush hour. Many major highways were flooded out. These are days I am glad we don’t have a car. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad/86261.html