Wilma and Mexico, part 2

Water bottle

After my previous post about Mexico and Hurricane Wilma, I thought I’d better stop by for an update.  Wilma, by the way, is still a hurricane, now getting close to Canada’s coast, although it looks like it will veer away without hitting land.

If you’ve watched any news in the past day or two, you know that many weary tourists are finally making it home.  But you may have heard very little of the Mexico they left behind.  There are a number of concerns for the area that was hit:

  • Thousands of people have little or no water to drink.  There is some bottled water stocked up, but there are concerns it’s not getting to where it’s needed
  • There is limited access to food at this time
  • There are long term financial concerns – loss of tourism is a big one, of course.  At the moment, though, the fishing industry is suffering, and just about any job in the area.
  • There were some homes that were totally destroyed
  • Over a million trees were ripped up, raising concerns about fires in the coming dry season.
  • We don’t have missionaries in this area, but it’s our adopted country and of course we’re concerned.  Since Katrina people have been asking about “our part” of Mexico in relation to these storms.  Where we’ll be living is usually far away from the hurricanes.

    Today we hear that Tropical Storm Beta is expected to become a hurricane.  Where will it strike?