Chetumal, Q. R. — An extremely energetic thunderstorm that rolled through the state of Quintana Roo Monday evening caused the most damage in Chetumal. The very electric weather system that passed over the Riviera Maya region around 7:00 p.m. merely wet most places with a light rain.
However, residents in Chetumal saw a very different storm. That same system took several hours to reach the southern city of Chetumal where streets were severely flooded and at least two cars crushed by fallen trees.
The thunderous storm arrived at Chetumal around 11:00 p.m. The city was hit hard enough to warrant emergency services in streets. Not only were residents hit by hard rains, lightning accompanied by strong wind gusts of 40 to 60 kms/h were felt.
Flooded streets and houses, fallen trees, crushed cars and power outages were some of the effects reported in Chetumal. The storm hung around for several hours, battering the city while firemen did their best to aid in unclogging drains and help stuck motorists.
Elements of the Army along with Civil Protection were also out in ‘operation storm’ until the system passed.
State Congress was forced to suspend a session that was being broadcast live due to the disruptive storm. The session was cancelled due to the powerful lightning strikes, which resulted in electronics being unplugged for safe keeping.
As of Tuesday morning, emergency personnel in Chetumal dealt with more than 160 calls of flooding as well as downed trees and signs. Several families in the residential area of Kilometer 5 were evacuated due to flooding.
Two compact vehicles were crushed by trees that fell due to high winds. More than 30 areas were reported under water. Many of those areas self-drained by mid-day Tuesday.
There is more rain in the forecast for Quintana Roo over the next few days.
