As January rain storms pummeled the U.S. West Coast, the media virtually ignored the plight of the Baja peninsula where the same storm was doing severe damage. Most of you, our Welcome Home “faithful,” probably don’t realize the severity of the storm’s effects on the Vicente Guerrero vicinity. The following eye-witness account is penned by Linda Molatore who, along with her husband Nick, have been guest hosts at Welcome Home this winter.

For a visual of the Vicente Guerrero bridge collapse and rushing river footage, check this YouTube video: Click here.

Linda writes…
In mid-January Vicente Guerrero had a couple of rain days, interspersed with sun, an answer to many weeks of prayer by the congregations of this agricultural San Quintin valley. Being from Portland, Oregon, we found it comical that schools were closed on these “rain days;” but really, any road not paved (about 99% of all roads here) becomes difficult to navigate, with the sloppy mud and small lakes.

Tuesday, January 19, was one such showery day. Due to road conditions, there were no children here at Welcome Home, except for those of the staff. Our three guests that week, Yesenia, Heather, and Logan (from Riverside, CA) threw themselves into helping by washing all the children’s chairs, and deep-cleaning the kitchen and the bodega with Cande.

The next day was bright and sunny per usual, and it was reported that water was actually flowing under Vicente Guerrero’s Santo Domingo bridge! We and the whole staff were very excited by this news, so by mid-afternoon we were all at the edge of the usually-dry Santo Domingo arroyo, along with many other people — all taking photos, touching and doing the obligatory throwing of stones into the small river…a fiesta in the January sunshine, complete with vendors selling elote (corn) and churros from their carts. That evening in the church service at La Mision Iglesia the congregants applauded and praised God for the rain, and fervently sang “Yo quiero nadar en el rio de Dios” during which we heard rain starting up again on the roof.

Strong winds and rain were buffeting our little casita (the 5th wheel RV) here at Welcome Home before dawn the next morning, January 21, and I noticed that even the daily morning bells of the Catholic church were not rung… a very somber morning indeed. By mid-day our Santo Domingo bridge over the arroyo-now-river just north of Vicente Guerrero was closed due to high water and the storm. We went to the bridge to take photos, and quickly got soaked in the blowing rain. The rushing, churning roar of the now-huge muddy river was unforgettable. People were scrambling to get to their chosen side of the river before the noon bridge closing.

Ruben of the taqueria El Pollo Loco reminded us to be aware of our gasoline needs, and so we waited for an hour in the storm at the Padre Kino Pemex to fill our tank, the line at the closer Vicente Guerrero Pemex being already too long. Of course there was a run on the propane gas, too, and that quickly ran out. No sense to worry about the bank ATMs as no computers were functioning.

Calling a Zapata friend, she cried, “Now we won’t see each other for many, many days!” I found this unbelievable. After all, the bridge was just being closed as a precaution… but her voice spoke from other experience. The last time this bridge had gone out was in 1993.

Returning from our gasoline run to Vicente Guerrero, we nervously passed through several rushing muddy washes filled with bushes and rocks, crossing the highway. Back at Welcome Home, thankfully, we only had a couple of small roof leaks. We never lost electricity beyond a rare flicker.

On Friday we heard confirmed news, and then saw for ourselves, that our bridge was out — the large earthen landfill between the two bridge spans had been washed away. The town was eerily quiet, without any of the sounds of Mexico’s commerce traveling through town on Highway 1 — the semi-truck traffic having ground to a halt. We had no land or cellular phones so no internet, and no radio that whole day… a very surreal, strange feeling when it is not known how long that situation will last. We heard through community word that two other bridges to the north and a couple much farther south had also been damaged, our bridge receiving the worst damage.

The importance of these bridges cannot be stressed enough! They are on Mexico’s Highway 1, the only paved connector from the North through the one thousand plus miles of the Baja. With bridges out to the north and south, each area became an isolated pocket of people, with supplies quickly running out. We later learned that the smaller areas away from the bigger towns were desperate for every food staple.

We walked to Mi Kazza Cafe several times during those days, connecting with other adventurers, like the group of 70 who walked from IDT, through several miles of mud and rain, out of curiousity and boredom. We met many groups of people, in various degrees of northbound desperation. (One hopeful group leader asked us just HOW collapsed the bridge was, if it would be fixed by the next day so they could leave.)

Saturday we got cell phone and internet service AND local radio again! But of course phone minutes had to be guarded as there was no way to purchase minutes. The day was bright with sunshine, and on our walks we saw with astonishment the brilliant SNOW covering the highest peaks of the San Pedro Martir range! Locals reported that it was the most snow to their memory.

We saw small airplanes and even an Ultralight overhead .. a rare sight for this region. They were all heading north. People could fly to Ensenada or San Diego in the 4 and 5-seater planes for about $100 US, and many did so, including our guest, Logan. Thank God for the small San Quintin airstrip.

At the bridge, a hanging basket was rigged to carry one person and supplies across, over the rushing river. Persons with extremely serious medical needs were brought from the north side of the river across to Vicente Guerrero hospitals, and food supplies were sent back north.

We walked everywhere as we sensed from all the locals around us a real sense of urgency to conserve due to the unknown time frame for the bridge repair. People began helping each other where they could. For a couple nights, Welcome Home even hosted a stranded local friend (Noemi Baeza) who had not made it across the river to her home in Zapata before the bridge closing.

On Tuesday, our Zapata friend Abraham walked across the bridge on a special dirt path to come to his job, but to cross back over on Tuesday evening, he was forced to wade across at the lowest point of the river, still thigh-deep, carrying some foods and diapers, with Steve and Jackie’s half-filled propane tank on his shoulder. Many people were wading across. Scenes of such survivalist determination amazed us each day.

We made friends with the many traileros (truckers) who walked the streets in boredom and then hunger. We watched one take diesel out of his tanks and put it into his running refrigeration unit to keep frozen his load of Baja fish. By Tuesday, as southern bridges were passable, the northbound semi trucks were double- and triple-parked throughout the town, and we hastily counted at least 120 rigs.

Road repair continued for the provisional (dirt) road through the river bed. There was no night-and-day repair as one would expect up North for this MOST important Highway in the Baja. But finally, with many people cheering and honking horns from both river sides, the crossing road was opened for Southbound traffic at 7:50 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26. We were with our northbound trailero friends when, an hour later, they were allowed to begin crossing. A beautiful scene of rejoicing, like the Exodus scene of crossing the Red Sea, and then life returned to normal, more or less, here at Welcome Home.

Update:  The Governor and other top officials made several tours of the fallen bridge, with promises for a bridge that will withstand future washouts. Constant two-way traffic now travels the precarious provisional road through the river bed. Work has been done in changing the still-flowing river’s course so as to force it through a narrow space under a recently made dirt road. The road is to divert traffic in order to begin actually work on the bridge segments themselves, now being partially used. However, in crossing the road  today (February 28) we noted the new unopened road is now in need of repair due to heavy rains yet again this past weekend.

Today our Baja sun is shining once again. The crops are nourished and the waters are receding. Yet, many families have suffered severe damage to their homes and as we’ve experienced smaller amounts of rain since the big storm, we think often of those families still in need of dry shelter. We will not soon forget the storm of 2010 that raged through this area, yet brought people together in unique ways. God is our Rock, our Shelter, our Provider! Gloria a Dios! [Editor]