Hurricane Report with Rant

I received a very concerned email from a dear friend in Seattle on Wednesday, saying he’d heard on the local news that Puerto Vallarta had been hit by a hurricane with winds of 100 mph, asking if I was okay, whether there had been damage to the town or to the house. He asked me to contact him if I could or have my son call if I’d been able to reach him. It was a sweet and caring message.

That email pissed me off no end.

What the f*&# has happened to news reporting in the U.S.A.? How is it possible that this kind of raw misinformation is disseminated daily by people whose charge it is to inform the American public?

Yes, there was a hurricane, Jova by name. Yes, it was off the west coast of Mexico. Yes, there was a hurricane warning from the National Hurricane Center for an area from Manzanillo, which is some 200 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, to Cabo Corrientes, which is immediately south of Puerto Vallarta. And yes, we were all aware of it.

In fact, many of us had been visiting the NOAA website and other serious and real weather advisors for days. In truth, we expected at least tropical storm winds in our area just north of Vallarta, and maybe worse, depending upon the path the hurricane tracked. We had battened down the hatches, brought in ice and water and food, refreshed flashlight batteries and found the candles.

During this period of preparation, I googled Hurricane Jova several times to see what was being said in the stateside news. In many of the newspapers around the country, a single newswire article was repeated, stating that the hurricane was headed for Puerto Vallarta. The article, two short paragraphs, didn’t mention Manzanillo, or the fact that the storm was many miles south of PV. It didn’t mention that the storm track consensus showed Jova heading east at that point, not north, and that the probability of its veering off west then north then due east into Vallarta was astronomical.

My conjecture is that the reporter who wrote that piece once spent spring break getting drunk in Vallarta and knows nothing whatsoever other than that about Mexico, except perhaps that tourists are being murdered left and right by drug gangs, another piece of American press bullshit.

This situation would only be another eye-roller were it not for the fact that inaccurate reportage continued to the point of frightening and worrying friends and family, even after the storm had passed without impacting the Vallarta area.

In all fairness, it’s as bad here in Mexico. My wonderful helper Lidia came to me last Friday saying she’d heard on the news that the approaching hurricane would be worse than Kenna, the Category 5 storm that did extensive damage in Puerto Vallarta in 2002. I showed her on the internet what I’d found and kept her informed about what we could expect. She talked to me about the tendency for the news in Mexico to exaggerate and catastrophize. Believe me, I could relate.

Jova dumped a lot of rain on Manzanillo, Barra de Navidad and Melaque before it made landfall slightly north of there as a Category 2. It pooped out quickly, but not before causing flooding of villages and crops inland. Five people were killed, all water related deaths. 

That's what really happened.

As for us, we did have a very eerie and beautiful sunset the night before Jova made landfall, from the clouds spun off the hurricane.

 

We received less than an inch of rain and a few wind gusts of maybe 12 mph. I took this photo on Wednesday afternoon, as we had our hurricane watch and played Mexican Train dominoes on the terrace:

And this one, of the palm trees not being whipped by the wind.

The cushions to protect the stained glass windows, the tape, the rope holding the lanterns are all put away now. It was a good rehearsal. We all got plenty of practice reading and analyzing the National Hurricane Center website. Which is where I'll go and hope you do, too, the next time.

Comments

[Jeanne]

Here on the east coast I read that it had hit Manzanillo with a lot of rain and some flooding.

Living here in hurricane alley - the storms are always built up to be very threatening - some times warranted, sometimes not. My sister got a foot of water in half of her house with Hurricane Irene - just a couple of months ago. Lots and lots of damage all around the Pamlico River and the Outer Bank - wind and water damage. I live 120 miles from there and we were told it could be bad up here - it wasn't at all. But parts of the coast sure got hit.

You never can tell with hurricanes - best to tune in to a good weather channel for accurate info.

Glad everything was fine there!

[Diedre]

I had heard that all was not as reported on the so called "news" and was happy to know you were safe and sound. I'm not sure exactly when the drama started in the inaccurate reporting of the news, but I do know it is now much worse than ever before. The first rule of journalism 101 has always been: If it bleads, it leads...., but lately, every damned thing reported on is spewing out blood like a really bad horror movie!
And once again I just want to thank you for your great reporting, photos, humor, insight, and, yea, the return of Ms. Tracy!

[Gretchen Goodliffe]

Thank you, thank you thank you.... I thought there was some odd reporting when the hurricane had past and there were no aftermath pictures.... they were HOPING it would hit directly in the heart of PV, HOPING it would be a catagory 10, HOPING there would be devastation and chaos and when it did not occur they just moved on to a blinding car crash on a highway in Brazil, or a strange case of missing fish swimming up a particular tributary of a unknown river. Twas ever thus, and I am so happy your lovely tin lights were safe, as was the entire town of San Pancho.... SOME reporters should be replanted in Lebanon.

[Sheri]

So happy that everyone is safe!!!!!!