Cabo's Speedy Clean Up and Recovery Continues after Odile

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"Should I Visit Cabo After Hurricane Odile?"

This is a question we have been asked many times this week. There are understandably a lot of tourists with vacations booked to Cabo in the coming months who are wondering what the progress is after Hurricane Odile struck on 14th September. People are wondering if they should travel and what will the there for them if they do come to Cabo. Lets look at some of the general progress that we have seen this week.

Clean Up
There has been an incredible response from many in Baja offering to help with with the recover and clean up of the main tourist areas. Los Cabos relies heavily on tourism of course and there is a universal desire here to get things back to normal as quickly as possible for those looking to visit. There are International Organizations actively in place looking for paid volunteers (men and women) to help speed up Cabo's recover. Elsewhere, people are literally queuing up to help.

Our own Brian Florky reported, "Went to Walmart today and there was a MASSIVE line of people. Almost turned around and went home but instead asked a soldier what was going on. He told us that people were lined up to get a job cleaning up the beach. So fantastic to see so many people getting to work. There was a lot of damage but it was amazing to see how much has been cleaned up and how MANY people were out working, piling up garbage, sweeping the streets and smiling, not to mention the thousands of CFE workers everywhere putting up power poles and fixing power lines. Then there are the thousands of soldiers and federal police that have done such an amazing job. Cabo is going to be back in business so much faster than anyone could have imagined. So if you really want to help, come visit. Come spend your tourist dollars in this beautiful place where so many incredible people are working so hard to get it ready for you. Viva Cabo!".

 

Power
Power has been restored now to much of the region (around 50%), and the heroic CFE workers are bringing more and more light to the evening skies every day. Phones lines and internet access has returned. Water supplies are currently at around 45& look set to be fully restored at some stage this week following tests at the desalination plant.

 

Continuing Relief & Support
It's not all good news of course, there are many people in Baja who continue to need help. Whilst we know that the more recognisable tourist areas in Baja will be back to full glory as soon as possible, things are quite different in the parts of Baja that tourists don't see so often (every big city has its poorer regions and Cabo is no different). Thankfully, some relief is also now reaching these areas, where people are very much in need. Many homes were mercilessly trashed by Hurricane Odile and people have been living in truly desperate conditions with very little support. This week, volunteers & US humanitarian relief workers from "Thirst No More" visited the barrios "LA Ballena" with much needed water supplies and setting up temporary shelters. One volunteer said yesterday "Tomorrow we are heading to more affected areas. So sad what we have been seeing in these neighborhoods. For most of them [it is the 1st time they are getting help." Get more information on exactly what Thirst No More are doing in Cabo and how you can help.

The Red Cross, also doing some fantastic work too, they stated on their website on September 19, "The storm has left more than 80 percent of the population in Los Cabos and La Paz without electrical power, damaged roadways and closed ports. The Mexican Red Cross has opened collection centers in several states to help those affected and sent the first shipment of 2,000 food parcels to the city of Los Cabos to support people impacted by the storm.

There are about 500 disaster workers who have come from all over Mexico to help. The volunteers, 120 of whom are paramedics, are providing basic medical check-ups and delivering food to people housed in shelters.

The members of the Mexican Red Cross participating in the response are specialists in collapsed structures, damage evaluations, pre-hospital care, logistics support in shelters and collection centers. The Mexican Red Cross is working closely with federal authorities, Civil Protection, the Governors Secretariat, the Mexican Marines and Army, to deliver the aid to the people affected as quickly as possible."

Here they are in action…

Airports
We reported earlier this week that the airport authorities are aiming to be open to Commercial flights again after October 8th onwards at Los Cabos International Airport. From the information that we have, this doesn't mean that all flights will be running as normal after that date. Each airline will set their own schedule for when they will restart operations into Los Cabos International. We know that La Paz and Loreto airport are both fully operational.

Hotels, Food, Drink and Fishing
Food and cold drinks are already being served to the highest standard again down by the Marina. Fishing charters are already back at work and their boats and crews are ready for business (read this statement from Pisces Sportfishing).

Of course repair work will continue throughout October but many businesses are either already open or are aiming to be by 1st October. If you are due to come to Cabo, we recommend that you to check with your resort and operators and so long as you can travel we urge you to come visit. Even now, as the work continues Cabo has some of the finest beaches, swimming pools, bars and restaurants that you will ever experience.

The overall message is, if you want to help, come to Cabo!

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