Thursday, April 7, 2011

1959 Mexican Hurricane


In 1959 the Pacific Coast of Mexico was hit by a hurricane that claimed around 1000 lives. As a staggering category 5, this was the largest hurricane to hit the East Pacific. Areas like Jalisco and Colima were clobbered by mass land wasting and flash floods due to the torrential rain. The hurricane didn’t cause much of the damage but the storm surge which hit the coast and destroyed communities and buildings completely devastating them. With bodies floating around and so many houses flooded and displaced this left many people homeless and without basic needs such as food, water, hygiene and high treats of diseases. People where left stranded and with no access to roads since some were blocked with posts and trees that were torn down by the 155 mph strong winds. Not only was the hurricane itself devastating to the people, but on top of it the mass land wasting caused soil erosion and displacement unearthing hundreds of highly venomous snakes and scorpions that later on claimed the lives of hundreds of people. All this devastation affected Mexico’s plantations and factories leaving many workers out of jobs. This massive hurricane was definitely one for the history books.


http://www.dailynewarticles.com/article/832/73614/Hurricane_Lane_Hits_Mexico_As_Dangerous_Category_3_Hurricane.html

http://www.interragate.info/notable-past-event/3853

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/1959_Mexico_Hurricane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Mexico_hurricane

3 comments:

  1. George TsitsishviliApril 25, 2011 at 5:25 PM

    I really liked your blog. I learned a lot about this hurricane and effects, which i have never heard of before. It is really interesting to see how this hurricane created other forms and processes. I think it could have been better if you added more pictures from the destruction of this storm or any other pictures. Other than that, great blog.

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  2. This is a pretty sweet blog. I had never thought about geography's affect on animals. I guess I'm just so human focused. It's pretty incredible that the hurricane exposed so many poisonous snakes and scorpions like they hadn't been before. Also, I like how you mention the storm surge. I wrote some about hurricanes as well but I neglected the fact that there is a storm surge. That is probably one of the most devastating parts of the entire storm.

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  3. I like how you included the human element. Nice explanation of forms and processes rain+land=mass wasting. AND YOU TALKED ABOUT SNAKES (more importantly how they where involved in this whole thing.) Totally Rad. To re-iterate what Travis said it was great that you remembered the storm surge.

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