Cortez Explorers Newsletter - Hurricane/Tropical Storm Julio

You just start to settle back and relax when something hits you in the gut. I am sure you have all had that feeling, once or twice; well it happened to Cortez Explorers (Mick and Maria) this past Monday (August 25th).

On Sunday the police had come around letting everyone know (if they had not already heard), that Tropical Storm Julio was heading due North up the peninsula at about 13 miles an hour. That meant that it would hit Mulege around 1400hrs on the 25th. Armed with that news, Mick and Maria began to execute their evacuation plan, which meant moving as much as possible to the higher ground of the Dive Center.

Most everything was completed by Monday as the rain started. At first Maria described the cool break the rain was delivering after a very hot and humid few weeks, "the weather cooled to wonderful, with breezes from the North. Still drip-down-yer-face-humid, but not so flipping hot". Still the brief thought of cooler weather quickly left as they slowly watched the river rise and break its bank around lunchtime. This was a slow, gradual rise, not like the feet per minute torrent as with Hurricane John. It had seemed to crest around noon with the waters lapping at the front door of their house. As it receded, Mick and Maria visited friends close by to check on them.

However, not long after checking in, Mick noticed the river change again. It was becoming angrier with large pieces of debris heading out to sea at a severe rate of knots. This was that kick in the gut - the river had not been receding, as much as it was lulling everyone into a false sense of relief. By 1400 there was six feet of water in the house. Maria's idea of leaving all the windows and doors open had worked a charm. There was much less mud and no windows were broken. Still there was much to clean up.

A few days have gone by since the flood waters have receded. The livestock damage was 12 birds - Mick had thought that he lost the cats, but they all managed to survive. In the lul in the flood the last to be evacuated were the cats. Unfortunately when Mick went back to recover them, he was blocked by walls of water. However, as cats have those proverbial nine lives, they all survived albeit with a few less lives to play with.

The cleanup has begun. Mick and Maria are working on getting the last of the mud out, ripping down dry/wet wall, cleaning the insides of all the cupboards and just clearing out the whole house. Last time I had spoken to them they were waiting for the water to come back on so they could begin power-washing the inside of the house. Much of the furniture that was left behind survived. Maria's wish to have wicker furniture has paid dividends and it is now about getting the inside dry.

As you can imagine, the viz is crappy right now - so no diving for the next week or so. The concentration throughout the entire town is to rebuild as quickly as possible. Getting ready for the winter season is imperative for the life of the town. We are closed for the time being so we can deal with out own properties etc. However we will open again soon. We have bookings for Mid September, and hope to be ready for their arrival!

Well, that is the newsletter for this month. I hope to have better news for the next one. Mick and Maria would like to say thank you to all those that have emailed them. I am sure they will get back in touch with you all at some point; just bare with them for the next few weeks.

Thanks from a soggy Mulege!
Mick & Maria.