Rains in Mexico from Tropical Storm

And it rains in Mexico

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico- And it rains, and rains, and rains through the night, by morning it is still raining. Tropical storm Matthew is moving through Tabasco state — just north of Chiapas — and making its way through Mexico. In San Cristobal de las Casas, we get rain: lots of rain.

Will the rain ever stop?

I asked this question this morning as I debated walking out into the storm, but I waited and watched the effects of Hurricane Matthew reduce itself to a flaccid drizzle.

The news reports say, “Deadly downpour drenches Central America,” as the stock hurricane season headlines are given life in print. Hurricane Matthew turned into a tropical storm as it made landfall over Honduras and Guatemala, by the time it reached Mexico it was just a big rain storm.

“We must emphasize that despite the expected weakening of Matthew, torrential rains will continue over most of Central America during the next several days,” the [US National Hurricane] center said.

This is the weather map for Tropical Storm Matthew right now

Tropical storm Matthew in Southern Mexico

We are now receiving these rains, and look forward to the mudslides. I look up at the hills surrounding San Cristobal — villages sprawl over 30 percent+ slopes. I look to the east of town and see a hill that had lost half of its bulk at some point in the past: it looks as if it was mined, a mudslide was probably the more accurate culprit. There are still houses sitting on the ledge where the break was made. In all directions surrounding the city there are people living on the sides of mountains, sometimes they left swaths of trees standing in neat strips to prevent erosion and land slides, sometimes they didn’t.

Mountains around San Cristobal de las Casas with houses and villages on the slopes

This morning, hundreds of people who live on the lee slopes of San Cristobal and down in the valleys were evacuated to a gymnasium in the city, where food and amenities were provided for them.

6 to 15 inches of rain are called for, but this storm looks beat to me. It is noon, Sunday, September 26, 2010, and the sun is trying to break through the clouds in Chiapas state, Mexico. It seems as if Matthew had spent its load during the night, I think everything is still standing.

Tropical storm Matthew in the south of Mexico

Sources: Yahoo news | Tropical storm | CNN | Matthew drenches southern Mexico

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