Heavy rains and flooding from Tropical Storm Hernán had left 30 communities in Jalisco without power or communications and an estimated 630 homes and nine schools damaged as of Sunday afternoon.
It also destroyed thousands of turtle eggs in Michoacán.
In Jalisco, worst hit were the southwestern coastal municipality of Cihuatlán, which saw 250 homes affected, and the southeastern municipality of La Huerta, with 228 homes affected.
State officials report one death and one injury related to the storm. A man in La Huerta died after he fell from the roof of his home while checking for damages and a woman in Cabo Corrientes suffered burns to her arms and legs due to an oven fire. She was in stable condition.
Emergency personnel said 250 state and federal workers had been sent to the affected areas and agencies were bringing in food and supplies by helicopter. A collection center for donations has been opened in Guadalajara.
In Michoacán, meanwhile, Hernán disrupted not only human lives but those of turtles too.
Big waves produced by Hernán’s winds pounded a marine turtle sanctuary in Aquilla near the state boundary with Colima. The storm damaged thousands of Olive Ridley turtle eggs in nests on Punta Ixtal Beach.
According to César Reyes, who runs the Ixtapilla Marine Turtle Sanctuary, most of the 600,000 eggs laid in five massive turtle arrivals this month were probably swept away at the 800-square-meter protected breeding ground.
Although the Olive Ridley turtle population has recuperated some in the last five years, according to environmental officials, it remains in danger of extinction.
The sanctuary is one of 19 that have operated in the area since 2004. They are maintained by some 300 residents of the area, where an estimated 70,000 Olive Ridley turtles show up annually to lay their eggs.
Source: La Jornada (sp)
