Hurricane Agatha damages Oaxaca state water infra, bridges

Federal and Oaxaca state authorities are assessing the infrastructure damage Hurricane Agatha caused in municipalities of Mexico’s Tehuantepec isthmus region. 

Governor Alejandro Murat said the infrastructure, communications, and transportation ministry (SICT) is working to restore the local highway and road network.

During the morning press conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Murat said one bridge connecting the Tonameca and Candelaria Loxicha municipalities and the Azufre bridge in Huatulco, connecting with the high mountain range, were damaged.

He added that water infrastructure was severely affected in at least one municipality. 

“The most relevant damage to municipal infrastructure is related to water. [Water authority] Conagua told us that 80% of water infrastructure in Pochutla municipality is damaged. In the case of Huatulco, the tourist area is working normally. However, in the Bajos de Coyula and Copalita areas, there is severe damage to the water supply system, as well as in Tonameca,” he said. 

The head of civil protection coordination agency CNPC, Laura Velázquez Alzúa, said that a brigade from the national center for disaster prevention (Cenapred) is assessing the structural vulnerability of four bridges. 

“A group of colleagues from Cenapred, who are specialized in structural vulnerability, will arrive to back the work performed by SICT, because there are four bridges that are key to transit: the Herradura bridge in Santa María Huatulco, the Tonameca bridge, the Azufre bridge, and the Chacalapa one, in Pochutla,” she said. 

On Friday, the national government declared a state of emergency in six Tehuantepec isthmus municipalities that register severe infrastructure damage. 

According to a decree published Friday, the municipalities of Santa María Colotepec, Santo Domingo de Morelos, San Pedro Pochutla, Santa María Huatulco, San Miguel del Puerto, and San Pedro Huamelula, will now have access to resources under a natural disaster emergency program.