Dean Loses the Spotlight as Life Resumes in Mexico

Mexico's Gulf states are beginning to resume normal activities today after being pounded by Hurricane Dean on Wednesday and Thursday. Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the national oil company, resumed production late Thursday at its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex officials say damage to the rigs is minimal, and some 18,000 evacuated Pemex workers are preparing to return to their posts in the Sound of Campeche today. In Veracruz, schools are scheduled to reopen after two days' shut-down due to Dean.

Late Thursday, "Hurricane" Dean was downgraded to a tropical depression. It hovered over the state of Jalisco near Mexico's Pacific coast, having plowed across the heart of central Mexico and leaving wreckage and flooding in at least eight Mexican states. Dean's torrential rains caused widespread flooding in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco (along the Gulf coast) and in Hidalgo and Guerrero (in the interior), as well as at least four confirmed deaths. The potential for life-threatening mudslides in remote areas of Veracruz and other states is still a major concern.

At least 25,000 people in eastern Mexico were evacuated due to flooding caused by Dean. Officials are investigating up to five other deaths to determine whether they were due to Dean. The four confirmed deaths in Mexico bring the total number of Dean's victims to 26, most of them in the Caribbean islands of Haiti and Jamaica.

The total amount of damage caused by Dean has not yet been tallied, but is expected to be many millions of dollars. Both the Yucatán Peninsula, where Dean made its first landfall, and Veracruz state, where it landed next, are large agricultural regions. Extensive crop damage is anticipated. In addition, there is extensive damage to personal property from winds and flooding.

Below is a timeline of Dean's destructive path.

Approximately 3.a.m. Tuesday, August 21: After forming in the Atlantic, Hurricane Dean makes landfall on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, near the town of Majahual on the Costa Maya. Majahual is flattened by Dean, which at this point is a category 5 hurricane-the highest level in the widely used Saffir-Simpson scale-with winds of up to 165 miles per hour. Dean's path is relatively narrow, with much of its trajectory across the Peninsula through sparsely populated areas, and rapidly loses strength as it crosses over land, further mitigating damage.

Tuesday, August 21: Dean crosses the Yucatán Peninsula from west to east, cutting a swath across the states of Quintana Roo and Campeche. Much of this area, fortunately, is sparsely populated. Farming areas here may be badly damaged, however, and the extent of damage to remote villages is still unknown.

Tuesday evening, August 21: Dean, now a category 1 hurricane, leaves the Yucatán and enters the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It roars past the oil platforms of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which were shut down several days previously as a precautionary measure-wreaking minimal damage but causing a production loss of 2.65 million barrels of crude oil a day-on its way to a second landfall in Veracruz state on Wednesday.

Approximately noon Wednesday, August 22: Dean, now a category-2 hurricane, makes landfall at Tecolutla, a tourism and fishing town in Veracruz state, battering it with 100-mile-per-hour winds.

Wednesday, August 22 to Thursday, August 23: Dean loses wind force and is downgraded to a "tropical depression"-but replaces its high winds with the torrential rains that have led to widespread flooding and property damage. The storm heads steadily west, dropping drenching rains as it goes.

Thursday evening, August 23: Dean hovers over the state of Jalisco, which borders the Pacific Ocean. Pemex prepares to resume production at its oil platforms in the Gulf.

Friday morning, August 24: Pemex announces that it is returning workers to the Gulf oil platforms. Veracruz state re-opens schools after a two-day hiatus.

Major weather centers are no longer posting regular advisories on Dean, and this monster storm may finally be petering out.

Best Regards,

Suzan Haskins
Editor, Mexico Insider
International Living

P.S. Please join us in Puerto Vallarta for our next Live & Prosper in Mexico seminar September 23-25. Here you can learn from our experts how to make Mexico your new home, help release newly-hatched sea turtles into the ocean, and enjoy the beautiful Pacific coast. Find out more here.

And remember, through September 30, you do not need a passport to travel to and from Mexico.