At the start of the 2018 hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific , the State Civil Protection Unit in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, are ready to start with preventive actions to safeguard the integrity of the population and tourists.
“In the case of the State of Jalisco, for our part, it is important to mention that, in case any preventive action is required, such as a total or partial evacuation, it is going to be done, this is a joint work with the three orders of government,” said Arturo Garcia Pulido, Jalisco Civil Protection in Vallarta.
23 places were identified as evacuation shelters with the capacity for 4 thousand people, in case it is necessary to enable them.
Educational facilities such as the primary school of Ixtapa, CECyTEJ of Pitillal, Conalep, are the most common places where people are concentrated, however, also the Lions Club, the ejido box of Las Palmas, the Real del Oro room and some more, are sites that are designated for emergencies.
So far, the National Meteorological Service (SMN) has not issued its forecast for this season, however, some research centers in the United States handle projections.
Arturo Garcia Pulido, from Jalisco Civil Protection in Vallarta, warned that tropical cyclones can cause serious damage to the population due to heavy rains that cause flooding, landslides and mudslides in coastal areas, a direct hit isn’t needed to cause damage or lost of life.
On Tuesday, May 15, the hurricane season began in the Pacific, while in the Atlantic it will begin on June 1, and will end on November 30.
For the Eastern Pacific basin, no forecasts have yet been issued, however, the historical average is 15 tropical cyclones, eight with a hurricane category, three being considered major hurricane.
The researcher at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences (CCA) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Rosario Romero Centeno, said that there are states that have historically suffered the effects of this type of climatic phenomenon.
She pointed out that practically all coastal states are vulnerable, but there is a greater probability that a tropical cyclone will penetrate the territory through Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán and Jalisco, mainly during the months of September and October, through the Pacific .
She warned that systems that do not reach hurricane status are called tropical storms and are the ones that occur most frequently and can cause serious damage to the population due to heavy rains that cause flooding and mudslides along the coastal zones and inland.
For this year, the National Hurricane Center of the United States announced that the names for tropical cyclones are Aletta, Bud, Carlotta, Daniel, Emilia, Fabio, Gilma, Hector, Ileana, John, Kristy, Lane, Miriam, Norman, Olivia, Paul, Rosa, Sergio, Tara, Vicente, Willa, Xavier, Yolanda and Zeke.
