Residents Were Prepared for Hurricane Rick’s Fury

PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Mexico —  Hurricane Rick walloped Mexico’s southern coast, an area still hurting from last month’s visit by Hurricane Pauline. But residents learned their lesson, and this time they were prepared.

Mindful of the extraordinary force of Pauline, villagers who hadn’t taken that storm seriously fled to sturdy houses on high ground for Rick’s arrival Sunday evening and stayed away from the banks of rivers.

And while Pauline killed at least 230 people in its charge up the coastline, not a single death was reported from Hurricane Rick.

It also helped that Rick, a Category 1 hurricane, was not nearly as strong as Pauline, a Category 4--the second most severe level and the same as Hurricane Andrew, which hit south Florida in 1992.

Hurricane Rick reached Oaxaca’s coast Sunday evening, washing out roads, toppling trees, destroying crops and picking apart flimsy homes. By Monday, it was downgraded to a tropical storm, then to a tropical depression as it moved inland over the neighboring southern state of Chiapas.

The Pacific hurricane season in Mexico has been particularly intense this year, which some blame on El Nino, a weather pattern that creates droughts in some areas while generating heavier-than-normal rain in others.