Hurricane Nora Causes Major Flooding of The Rio Cuale in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico August 28th, 2021

Eye Witness Accounts of Flooding and Damage Brought on by Hurricane Nora in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Bridge and Road Rebuilding now a Priority Post Hurricane Nora in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

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Hello fellow travelers, welcome this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel show. I am your host Barry Kessler, and I am just so happy to be introducing you to my favorite vacation destination, and maybe even yours, Puerto Vallarta Mexico.

That music you were just listening to is performed by Alberto Perez, the owner of the La Palapa Group of Restaurants. Those are La Palapa, Puerto Vallarta’s Oldest Restaurant on the famous Los Muertos Beach, and The El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club right

next door so you can enjoy that fantastic view of the Los Muertos Pier all lit up at night in beautiful colors, or during the day in its grand splendor for breakfast, lunch or dinner, seated with our toes in the sand right at the water’s edge. It’s so romantic, it’s so, Puerto Vallarta my friends.

I just got back from 10 days on the ground in Puerto Vallarta so this week we are going to be concentrating on the Hurricane,  we’ll be talking about Hurricane Nora, and what Nora did to our beautiful pueblo. We will be visiting with our friend Jose Luis Ramos, the

most Honest Bandito on The Beach. Jose will give us his story from Saturday the 28^th of August, a first hand report from the banks of the Rio Cuale, and we will be hearing from our friend Polly who will I asked if she would report from her little jungle village in Playa Grande just up river from Colonia Pitillal, but before we get to Jose Luis and Polly, Lets talk about what happened in Puerto Vallarta the night Hurricane Nora hit, and what I discovered the very next day when I arrived in Puerto Vallarta, and talk about what to expect over the next few days, weeks and months.

Things Are Getting Back to Normal Post Hurricane Nora in Vallarta

The thing I want to say before I get started here is that most of Puerto Vallarta did well during the hurricane and over the last 2 weeks, much has improved and gotten back to normal. So, I want everybody to know, and I’m here to tell you that Puerto Vallarta is

open for business. If you are planning on coming down but are thinking about postponing your trip…please don’t cancel. You must come down and enjoy paradise. I was here right after the damage had been done and even though I was in the middle of the mud and water, I found time to have a good time. You definitely will have a great time  I just wanted to start with that uplifting sentiment because what is going to follow is a sad tale.

Many of us went to sleep on Saturday night, August 28th thinking Hurricane Nora was going to bounce off of Cabo Corrientes and head northwest, past the bay and up to Cabo. But instead, the category 1 hurricane did an end around and came inland in Cabo

Corrientes, then hung over the mountains, over the pueblo of Cuale,  and poured rain over all the tributaries that lead to the Rio Cuale, and into Vallarta causing a torrent of water that devastated the riverbanks, carrying away the sand, the mud, the vegetation, asphalt roads along the Rivera Rio Cuale literally were cracking in half,  , the soil beneath the roads, undercut by the raging current. Colonias of  Buenos Aires, and Benito Juarez, literally cut off with no roads, passable only by foot or motorcycle for now with no

potable water and no electricity. People literally have to walk an hour to get to some sort of civilization…like a bus or a waiting taxi. Getting cooking gas and carrying in potable water is harder still. It’s dire for those communities. And it will take possibly weeks to have new roads built. But that’s not all. The Old Bridge, the Insurgentes Bridge was swamped, and washed out it collapsed due to the huge amounts of water coupled with all the mud, sand vegetation trees, and that 61-year-old bridge couldn’t withstand all of

those forces of nature, and buckled and collapsed. Francine’s beautiful restaurant, Bonito Kitchen fell into the river and the co-work facility which serves as an Airbnb that sat above Bonito Kitchen, built up against the old Surtidora del Puente building, collapsed, where tragically, our friend Arancha, from Babel Bar, lost her 13-year-old son Curro. They had hoped he had escaped the collapse but alas, they discovered him the next day, crushed in the rubble the afternoon I arrived. It was so very sad.

Across Insurgentes, Incanto was swamped, mud filling the theater, the outside deck and patio, a nasty mess furniture, gone. I have pictures in the shownotes of them hosing off the seats in the street. Insurgentes was roped off just north of Aquilles Serdan, and I could walk right up to where the bridge had buckled on the south side. The streets were covered in mud, and you had to be careful about where you walked. The mud was slippery. Walking up Libertad from the other side of the bridge, the streets were also covered in mud, and as I got to the corner of Libertad and Insurgentes, where Vallarta Factory, the chocolate and cigar place is, they were spared, although the place was covered in mud inside and out. Across the street, the old Restaurant Fuente Del Puente with its big patio was literally cracked in half. Tilting towards the Cuale. That used to be one of the best and most popular restaurants in Vallarta..and over the years it went downhill. And now, almost down the riverbank. Really sad. I remembered staying in the apartment behind that restaurant the time Hurricane Patricia was bearing in on Vallarta back in 2015, and if you remember that story, we determined that would be a bad spot to be if the river were to rise and we made our way to Guadalajara just in case remember? Well, you can bet that apartment was inundated with mud and water from Nora. And remember that side of the bridge of course is the home of the Municipal Market, the three-floor swap meet with the authentic, traditional Mexican restaurants on top…the bottom floor and basement totally buried in mud along with all the venders’ booths that sit along the river. My buddy Chombos place and all those kiosks inundated with mud and washed away in many places. Inventory lost and ruined. Of course, I couldn’t access the area. It was all cordoned off and the river was still swollen so high, everyone was on edge, hoping there wouldn’t be more rain to make things worse.

I was sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, and reading about the all this chaos. Francine from Bonito Kitchen posted  my beautiful restaurant is gone. Wow…I have something for her restaurant in my suitcase.. and …Arancia from Hotelito Babel in El Tuito urgently posting my son is missing please help find him. Watching with horror as news reports came flooding in about collapsed buildings and bridges. Video of a young lady in her car being swept away was popping up on Facebook and the local news outlets. Frightening to see all the tragedy along the river.

I started getting pictures form Salvador from Paso Ancho and Colonia Buenas Aires where the Cuale retook meters of riverbanks, roads and footbridges. And where the river came over the banks, into the streets and into houses, basements of the homes and businesses along the river. The municipal market was swamped. Mud covered the streets, sidewalks, parking structures, from the river to almost the church, the Iglesia de

Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, to the north, from south of I Madero all the way to the Malecon. The Malecon extension was covered in inches of mud. Libertad, Morelos, the Banco Santander, The Electra building where we go to exchange dollars for pesos was a muddy mess. Hundreds of Thousands of pesos worth of souvenirs, ruined or damaged.

Alright…about the flight just to be accurate. Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta direct, approximately 3 hours. My check in and boarding were exactly the same as with the last 5 trips beginning in August of 2020. Yup this was trip number 6 during the pandemic. So you had to wear a mask all the time on the plane except for eating and drinking. Wear the mask inside the airport terminal. You were asked to answer a questionnaire when you were checking in at the electronic kiosk in the Delta Airline Terminal…I know…whenever you say Delta all of a sudden people get a little jumpy…so they ask…. Do you have any symptoms of the rona, have you been around someone who has the rona lately and do you promise to wear a mask. You answer No, No and yes. I got the emergency exit row on both legs of the trip without even asking. Nice. Love the leg room.

QR code scan when you arrive in Puerto Vallarta. No test necessary yet, upon arrival. If you are already in their system, it’s much easier. So, if you have used this previously, you are good. Temp scan, then the regular immigration, customs, and shark tank and out to the taxi.

Pretty good protocols being followed at most restaurants and large grocery stores and shopping malls. Public busses yes, Ubers, yes, Taxi’s will wear one or not, depending on the passenger it seems.

Mask wearing, as observed from my balcony overlooking the Malecon I would peg at 50%. And we are talking 50% local Mexicans, and 50% vacationers and expats.

The kids were going back to school, and it was nice to see them out and about. But the afternoon of the 29^th, just less than 24 hours after the horrors of the flooding and destruction was emotional. Devastating to see the loss of livelihoods, of life, of property, of memories hopes and dreams. It was breathtaking the damage and the mud…everywhere…mud oozing out the doorways of the flooded shops. Blankets, t-shirts, clothes, textiles being pulled out of basements soaking wet with brown Cuale mud…piled along the sidewalk to drain, before being loaded into trucks to be cleaned somewhere out there. I took pictures of course. In the shownotes.

The only way for me to get to the other side of the river the first night was to walk across the old bridge. No cars were allowed because there was still too much mud in the streets. The Malecon extension bridge was closed for inspection, and it was dark because the lights weren’t working and inches deep mud from the northside base of the walking

bridge all the way to the Navel Museum, and all other swinging bridges were washed out. But once you walked over the bridge and to Calle Lazaro Cardenas, to tile park, except for lots of water in the streets, everything south of that was pretty much normal.

And in along the Malecon from the Amphitheater north, things were open. Wet, but open.

But the city was pretty much cut in half, and it kind of is right now. There are currently two choke points.

The only busses coming to and from the north have to come in through the Tunnel and drop in on the south side of the Romantic zone from the Libramiento Cars as well of course, after the mud was cleared out by last Tuesday, traffic was reconfigured to accommodate two-way traffic, cars only, no busses, using the quote-unquote new bridge, the one that comes off Morelos. So, there is two-way traffic, but you can imagine there is a bit of a bottleneck there.

I arrived Sunday afternoon, the plane was ¾ full by the way. My son’s flight from Milwaukee was cancelled, so he was arriving the following day. The taxi driver taking me from the airport asked what where I was staying and I told him Malecon Uno, on Libertad and Morelos. He told the guy at the booth who told him good luck, and so the driver says to me did you understand what he said? And I said yes. I’m walking right? And he says right. I’ll get you as close as I can, but where you are going, the streets are closed. So, he took me to the Crazy Chair sculptures at calle and the Malecon, took my bags out of his trunk and said…buenas surete…So down the Malecon I waked, dragging my luggage for

about ¼ mile to the Navel Museum right where the outdoor amphitheater is, and the area is covered in 2 inches of mud. And it’s roped off with yellow warning tape, and guarded by a national guardsman who looks me up and down as I’m sweating like a pig, my overpacked daypack, my roll on suitcase and full sized rolling checked bag filled with

goodies for my friends. I pointed towards the Malecon one building and said hola, I’m staying in that condo over there. He said there, I said yes. He said okay, try not to slip and fall on your face…lifted the yellow tape and under I ducked and carefully I made my way to the Condo.

After I got settled, I began taking pictures, and maneuvering the streets, taking stock of the OXXO’s that were still available to me. Remember the one I used to use burned, well, was damaged in the fire a couple of weeks ago, and that was my go-to OXXO whenever I stay in this building. It’s right next door to Vitea, Devil’s Bar and Lix Ice Cream. I love the area.

As I turned the corner I literally ran into Jimmy and Frankie from Vallarta Food Bank. They had a table set up on the sidewalk and were busily feeding all hands who were helping shovel the mud out of the streets. The national guard, locals, expats all were pitching in. Shoveling the thick mud in the hot humid tropical afternoon. Water trucks were used to hose off the remaining mud from the cobblestones, and inch by inch, block, by block the streets were cleared of the ever-present mud.

I made my way up Libertad to get a look at the Insurgentes Bridge and was shocked to see the destruction. Trees, mud, debris from upriver, and tires. Lots of tires. Well, you had to get a closer look at them. They weren’t entire tires. They were sidewalls of tires, flattened and tied together. The treads were gone. Like they had been used to make huaraches, but the sides. And there were piles of them. And down river the same sidewall tires could be found all the way to the beach. Now lots of people were concluding that these tires came down river and caused the bridge collapse, but Marcia Applegate

Corchene, who you can almost always find wrapping fine cigars at the Vallarta factory told me a story about an older man who she found sobbing on her patio. She asked him why he was so sad and he answered, I helped build that bridge in 1959. So she asked him about the tires and he said they used them in the construction of the bridge. So, that’s where they came from…I guess. I have pictures of them in the shownotes.

Word was it would take about 2 months to build a new bridge, and currently, most of the old bridge has been demolished and hauled away. But I just got off the phone with Pancho who told me they had to stop work on the construction site because there’s too much rain. He tells me they won’t begin building the new one until late October early November once the rain slows down. So, don’t expect a bunch of progress when High Season hits. This might take some time.

As they were hammering away at the north west side of the bridge, a portion of the municipal market began to move and cracked away from the building sending merchants into the street. Officials were talking about having the building demolished and rebuilt, and the thought of displacing hundreds of families who have booths in the mercado where they are just eeking out their meager livelihoods, for maybe 2 years while they rebuild was just too much to imagine. The plan is to repair and defend the building to re-enforce it and preserve it. I think that would be best. I can’t imagine all those people with no place to sell their wares…And I have to tell you…I missed having them there to buy my souvenirs. I really did!

Someone told me that Vidante bought the property a few years back and the rent money must be immense.

So after taking pictures that first afternoon,  I finally walked to Cuates y Cuetes where I had a bowl of tortilla soup and a beer to calm me down and settle my nerves. Then, back through the muddy streets to my condo right in the middle of everything. The next day I

was picking up my son at the airport in the afternoon, so I made my way up to JR’s place in El Caloso, the bridge had been closed the previous night, but now it was open. I walked up aquellis Serdan and then to the river walk, along the raging river Cuale where I got a glimpse of how wide it had become, taking all the riverbanks and more. A condo up in El Caloso looked to be listing to one side, although I couldn’t tell if it was really leaning, or was it an optical illusion. They had lost their pool and much of their patio and parking area to the Cuale. They were in the process of building come cabanas alongside the condo which was a total loss.

JR explained to me that the building was built on soil taken from the librimiento when they were digging the tunnel, and piled along the river where eventually, they tamped down the soil, and built that condo. Uh ohh….Sounds safe right? Disclosures?

JR and I walked down to Gringo Loco, had breakfast and discussed my plans for this stay. Of course everything was a tossed salad. I needed to regain my bearings and think about my planned interviews without getting too distracted by the disaster. But there were many distractions and I took some time to document in photos and audio what had occurred. I asked our friend Jose Luis, the most honest bandito on the beach to describe what happened that night. Let’s go right now to Tacos El Cunado, on Pier street, and listen to Jose Luis tell us about what happened that night. His special birthday party he will never forget…

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Thank you Jose Luis. I have pictures of the muddy mess he had at his house in the shownotes.

When I was sitting at the airport at LAX, waiting for my plane I saw a Facebook live video of the devastation along the Pitillal river where homes were being swallowed up and land reclaimed by the raging water. Livestock that had been swept away from the colonia upriver added to the horrible devastating panorama of destruction. I thought right away about  my buddy Polly who lives up in Playa Grande, up-river from Pitillal where Ive seen her post video of her streets literally turning into little rivers whenever it rains hard up there. So I was worried about her for sure, and when I got to town, I asked her if she could describe what happened that night in her little jungle village, so she grabbed a neighbors vehicle, and maneuvered her way into town and parked a half mile away and walked  to my condo at Malecon one, where she sat with me on my balcony, overlooking the Malecon and the bay, and with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks in the background, she recounted the events of Saturday evening, August 28^th, the evening the river swelled when Nora came to town in Playa Grande, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico….

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Wow, what a shocking experience wouldn’t you say? Thank you Polly for recounting your experiences for us. If you haven’t heard Polly, I had her on a couple of months back so if you happened to miss Polly, check her out.

When I was at Mi Café, I was talking with Adalberto Perez who showed me some old pictures of the Rio Cuale. He showed me how over the years, the river was encroached on and narrowed. He said this wasn’t the first nor the worst flooding.

An acquaintance, an older lady, Rosa who lives in El Cerro above downtown told me that in 1970, the river flooded sweeping away many people who had built shacks along the riverside. Many drowned and many flooded the local IMSS hospitals. I need to do some more research on the subject for sure, but several people said no…there were other really bad events surrounding the river and flooding.

So as was saying my sons flight was cancelled on Sunday so Monday at 2 I Picked up Jake…at the airport and took a cab to his Airbnb on Olas Altas above Salud Super Food..which was closed for the month by the way. But he was tired and he needed to get some shuteye till dinner. So I left him and walked back to the insurgentes bridge and I stopped in to see Pancho at Vallarta Factory. Where he gave me a tour of the muddy mess. They had to tear out the old tile floor and now they are just going ahead and doing a remodel. His basement was full of water, but it wasn’t muddy water from the river, it was clean water coming up through the floor from the shallow water table. The same thing happened right down the street at Arte Viviente. A kid was bailing out clear water. So weird!

On his first night I took Jake to Arriba over on Olas Altas. It was pretty good. I had the arracherra. Jake had enchiladas I believe. Restaurants we visited were Mariscos Cisneros, Mi Café, Fredy’s Toucan, Menos place, once for breakfast and once for dinner, DeCantaro, The Sofa Café, Cuates y Cuetes, La Palapa, Restaurant San Lucas a couple of times, Martini en Fuego, Mangos Beach Club, Barracuda, just to name a few. Lots of taco stands for sure.

We stopped in and had Jake fitted for Huaraches at huracheria Fabiola, size 15 is hard to find, we went to Pitillal to visit Ray and Debbie who finally escaped Canada. I love their house. They have a taqueria within crawling distance from their door. It’s so wrong…We took the Bus to Boca and drove past the Barcelo, which was once the La jolla de

Mismaloya, where 18 month old Jake famously disappeared on us as we were loading up our luggage into a taxi leaving for the airport to come home. We freaked out of course. There were pools all over the property. We found him upstairs playing with the receptionist. He had heard the story so many times I he wanted to return to the scene of the crime.

We had a couple of outings together, but Jake seemed happy to stay in his condo and read. Oh he got out a lot to Bar La Playa. That was his favorite hang when they reopened on the 1^st of September and I’m pretty sure he didn’t miss a day.

Two days before departure we went to get our PCR Covid antigen test at the airport. The plan was to get there at around 9 PM to avoid the crowds. They are open 24/7. But the rain was pouring cats and dogs, so we ended up not leaving till midnight. We were the

only ones there getting tested so it went really fast, and we both agreed the nurse was a sadist. She touched my brain I’m sure. The error we made was not asking the taxi driver to wait for us. I mean mine went really fast because I was already in their system from the last time, I had a stick jabbed up my nose. So instead of having a taxi waiting for us. Nobody was waiting for us. There aren’t taxis at an empty airport with no arriving flights.

So, we summoned an Uber which came from the Marina in about 6 minutes. Bus while we were waiting out there on the road at midnight, a young guy comes up and is stranded like we are. He asks if he can hitch along if he gives us some pesos. Now I didn’t know what to do…Do I say yes? I don’t know this guy. He looks ok…clean cut and all, but I don’t know what’s in his daypack. So I say, well, it’s an Uber, and I don’t know you and don’t want to put the driver at risk….well…he didn’t like that answer and when the Uber came, and after we got in, he asked the driver if he could pay him 60 pesos to let him ride along. So now he’s paying the other guy…anyway, the uber guy looks back at me as to say what do you think? Of course, I say I don’t know the guy, if you feel safe taking him, I don’t care.

So, he takes the peso and lets him sit up front with him. Whatever…we weren’t killed so there’s that. Anyway…remember to ask the driver to wait if you are at the airport late.

Just a few observations…make sure you plan your take-out box, your leftover bad or doggie bag, whatever you want to call it, when you are looking over your plate of food. If you don’t plan to devour the whole thing, preserve your leftovers so when you transfer them to that box or doggie bag, they look good enough to eat. Then don’t take them to your condo and put them in the fridge, give them to someone needy on the street. If you don’t see that needy person, leave it in a place where it will be discovered by someone in need. Never leave food on your plate. Pack it and pass it.

There are some worthy charities in this town. Pick one and help is you can or promote if you can’t. and remember…

Puerto Vallarta is beautiful. Right now, the destruction that happened, happened in a very tiny part of the town. The rest of paradise is literally unchanged. And what happened shouldn’t stop you from coming and enjoying paradise. You can still get to where you need to be. It may take a few minutes more, but it’s all available to you like before. New routes will need to be utilized until repairs can be made, but the combined efforts of local and federal governments will speed the process.

Currently there are two ways to get from the downtown area into the zona romantica. One is on the bridge on Juarez, known as the new bridge, either by foot or car or taxi. It goes past the parking lot on the Malecon which is currently closed because Juarez now has 2-way traffic, so cars going in and out of that structure would be problematic. But the businesses and the bathrooms are open in the Juarez parking structure for now. The other way is to take the walking bridge that goes from the Malecon extension to Tile Park or Lazaro Cardenas Park.

 

By the end of the year the Insurgentes bridge should be rebuilt better than ever. And by the way, if you get there soon, you can have a front row seat, sipping a coffee or cold drink in the patio of Vallarta Factory, watching history being made as they build the new one right in front you your eyes. And when the bridge is complete, make sure that you take your special someone, and give them a lucky kiss in the middle of the new insurgents bridge and make your own piece of history.

Okay that should do it for this week.

Next week, stay tuned for more on the ground reports from Puerto Vallarta Mexico, with travel tips, great restaurant and excursion ideas and more.  Until then, remember, this is an interactive show where I depend on your questions and suggestions about all things Puerto Vallarta. If you think of something I should be talking about, please reach out to me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending us your message.

And remember, if you are considering booking any type of tour while you are in Puerto Vallarta, you must go to Vallartainfo.com, JR’s website and reserve your tour through him, right from his website. Remember the value for value proposition. His experience and on the ground knowledge of everything Puerto Vallarta in exchange for your making a purchase of a tour that you would do anyway, you’re just doing it through him as a way of saying thank you. It costs no more than if you were to use someone else so do it. Really. And when you do take one of these tours, email me about your experiences. Maybe you can come on-board and share with others what you liked or didn’t like about the tour. Again, contact me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending off a message. Don’t forget his maps, his DIY tours and his revitalized Happy Hour Board. I have links to all of those in the show notes.

And once again, if you like this podcast, please take the time and subscribe and give me a good review on iTunes if you would. That way we can get the word out to more and more people about the magic of this place. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Remember I made it easy for you to do just that with each episode I create. But if you haven’t been to my website, you really need to have a look there.  I have the links to the places we talk about, interesting pictures and the more all right there in my blog-posts and show-notes for each episode of the show so check them out for sure if you haven’t already all-right? All right.

Thanks to Jose Luis Ramos, the Honest Bandito on Los Muertos Beach, and thank you Polly for telling us your story.  And hey everybody, get on a plane and head down to paradise…they’re waiting for you. And thanks to all of you for listening all the way through this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show. This is Barry Kessler signing off with a wish for you all to slow down, be kind and live the Vallarta lifestyle. Nos Vemos amigos!

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