Los Cabos Struggles in Aftermath of Hurricane Odile

Category 3 storm was area’s ‘worst catastrophe’

Chris Duthie

By now you’ve likely heard about the devastation of Mexico’s celebrated tourist destination, Cabo San Lucas, which on Sept. 14 suffered a direct hit by the Category 3 winds of Hurricane Odile and was left in a wake of destruction, despair and misery.

Incredibly, only four deaths have been attributed to the storm, including two Korean men who were killed when their vehicle was swept away by rushing water, and a British woman whose body was found in the bay of La Paz. Her husband, traveling with her, remains missing.

The harrowing, post hurricane ordeal includes chilling reports of riots, looting, armed gangs and robbers. No cell service, electricity or running water. Severe shortages of food and drinking water remain.

An estimated 30,000 tourists were directed to severely damaged Cabo San Lucas International Airport, where passengers waited in a line nearly a mile long—hungry, thirsty and dealing with extreme heat and humidity—for irregular flights out of the widespread wreckage.

It is a scene described as a life or death version of television’s The Amazing Race.

In response, Mexican authorities sent in federal troops and police to help restore order and calm outbreaks of looting of damaged resorts, private luxury residences and the area’s expansive Hotel Zone.

“There is practically not a single power pole standing,” said Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong last week after touring the area between La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur state, and the Los Cabos resort area. “It is the worst catastrophe that we have had in terms of the power of a weather event.”

The golf resort of CostaBaja on the Sea of Cortez in La Paz sustained little damage, though the city did not fare as well.

Last Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reportedly set up a temporary work program to clean up damaged areas and community kitchens to help residents in the most severely impacted areas.

Early Friday, a U.S. military plane carried about 40 Americans from Cabo San Lucas to Los Angeles, charging each passenger $570 for a ticket out, a defense official told NBC News.

“It’s very disturbing,” said Georgia Demet-Mangiameli, whose two sons were stranded in Cabo after meeting there for a destination wedding. “In the United States, there is the Red Cross, which gets people our of harm’s way instantly. And there in Mexico, they are sitting there for days.

“The conditions are horrible,” she told CNN last week. “They are running out of food, water and toilet paper. They are worried about looters.”

Nine days after the region’s worst-ever storm, authorities continue to struggle to restore services, calm homeless residents and deliver critical aid. No word yet on the condition of Cabo’s world-famous golf clubs, among them Palmilla, El Dorado, Diamante, Querencia, Cabo del Sol, Cabo Real, Puerto de Los Cabos or private Quivira Golf Club, which is scheduled to host a grand opening in October.

The International Community Foundation (ICF) is actively working to assess needs and concentrate relief and rebuilding of communities most directly affected by Hurricane Odile. ICF intends to partner with on-the-ground relief organizations, including the Mexican Red Cross. To donate to the relief effort, contact the Baja California Disaster Relief Fund at the International Community Foundation.

RELATED LINKS

Where to Play in Cabo

Quivira Golf Club Set to Debut in Cabo

Explore Puerto Los Cabos

Chris Duthie is a contributor to Colorado AvidGolfer, the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.