Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Laredo Highway Still Closed

This river destroyed all the houses along its path, took out part of the bridge and the road. If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you can see where the cement retaining walls in the back on the right were washed away.


This road has been blocked off by debris. The bulldozers have been working for five days. Still not open.


Mud being removed from houses on the sides of the river. Most of these people were squatters some 30 years ago. Now they are clamoring because they're not getting support.


Manholes bubbling with water, many manholes were just washed away.


Streets still running with water coming down from the hills.


These pictures were taken today. I never made it to Monterrey. So this is between my house and the edge of town. This picture shows the water still coming down from the mountains and filling the streets.


People in a small ejido about 10 kms south of the city at a small church that is dispensing food and clothing.


Los Cristales, another ejido where the water is still at the street level. I couldn't take a picture of the damage done to a private neighborhood. Be careful taking pictures this year. Everyone is paranoid over the problems with organized crime and to take pictures you must ask permission. I asked and was denied.



living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

There are no open roads between Monterrey and Laredo. Where both the libre and cuota run parallel there is a giant lake. 12,000 trailers are stuck at the border and the economy of Tamaulipas is falling fast.

Yesterday I took a drive around and was shocked at what I saw. First off, there is a convoy of bulldozers traveling around the city. If you are in traffic and it slows down you can be assured that there is a bulldozer moving from one place to another.

Water is still bubbling out of manholes, rivers in the middle of Monterrey are still running out of control. I saw first hand houses filled with mud along the sides of rivers, people trying to salvage something from their lives.

So far, 750 tons of food and clothing have been collected here in Monterrey. The worst hit was the city of Anahuac which is along Hwy 1 from Monterrey to Columbia. There was no choice but to open the gates to the dam flooding the town completely to save Monterrey and other cities south and to the east.

Bodies continue to be found as the waters recede along with animals, cars, and furniture. This is truly a tragedy. I have seen nothing on U.S. news although we have received some help from the great state of Texas but I thought for sure the U.S. would lend a hand.

Remember that Mexico was the first to arrive after Hurricane Katrina with portable water filtration systems and mobile food kitchens. Mexico was also on the scene when the platform collapsed in the BP oil tragedy.

I will be posting pictures later on today. You have to see this, it is truly unbelievable.

4 comments:

  1. Hi, I stumbled across your blog and am glad I did. I'm glad you've continued posting about the aftermath of Alex. And to reiterate what you've noticed, I've heard nothing in the news about the affects of Alex, during or now after.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nothing here on the Canadian news either. There was a small article in the CBC news on July 1st, but that's it. Sad.

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  3. Last night on the national news here in Mexico it said that the economy of Nuevo Leon had collapsed, they painted a very dark picture. I am also worried about that huge dam that is at 120% capacity and they can't release water any faster.

    There are collection points all over the city of Merida, the main one is at the giant convention center. They are collecting food, water, money and clothing for the victims. I think this is happening all over the Republic.

    Why are you surprised about the northern press? They will only print cartel killings, nothing else.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Last night on the national news here in Mexico it said that the economy of Nuevo Leon had collapsed, they painted a very dark picture. I am also worried about that huge dam that is at 120% capacity and they can't release water any faster.

    There are collection points all over the city of Merida, the main one is at the giant convention center. They are collecting food, water, money and clothing for the victims. I think this is happening all over the Republic.

    Why are you surprised about the northern press? They will only print cartel killings, nothing else.

    ReplyDelete