Tampico Mexico Can It Withstand a Hurricane Direct Hit?
By: Lance Winslow
Hurricane Emily could reach a Category III Hurricane or greater and if either Veracruz or Tampico takes a direct hit it will be serious. These two cites are their primary seaports. Mexico relies on exporting for their economy and since the majority of the sea freight goes out thru these two-ports, it could cause havoc. Even two to four days of closure is serious. If one or both of those ports are closed long-term Mexico’s Manufacturing sector which is up over 7% in the last two-years could take a huge hit. Worse is the truck traffic coming into the United States Ports will increase so the products can ship out from Texas Ports.
The area between Tampico and Veracruz is in the direct path of Emily as she regains strength and heads for a second rendezvous with landfall. Mexico has lots of ports but these two are busy. The area also hosts many businesses and if the area is slammed, short-term construction will be busy, but many temporarily unemployed people will go north over the border to the United States and thru Texas to work.
These areas have been hit before and upgrades have been made on the highways and flood control infrastructure is in place, but Emily could hit hard and hover over land delivering more water than the area can handle disrupting highways and rail hurting trade. Highways and rail deliver products to the port for exporting. Power is also an issue as the port needs the power to run. A large disruption of Mexico’s infrastructure in these areas could be devastating to many industries and hurt jobs and slow economic growth. Since Mexico is our neighbor and trading partner this will affect us as well. It would behoove the United States to assist and mend some fences here if possible and make it clear we need them to do give more than lip service to the drug trade issues into our country at the same time. The Tourist industry on the Yucatan Peninsula will be repaired quickly thru insurance and private enterprise and was built to withstand a large direct hit or a small Hurricane like Emily.
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