Oct. 2, 2002
By THERESA BRAINE, Associated Press Writer
MERIDA, Mexico (AP) - Fields are flooded. Factories stand idle. And thousands are homeless or unemployed a week after Hurricane Isidore hit Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
The region has struggled to clean up and move on, plucking stranded residents from water-logged trees, clearing branches from roads and burying hundreds of thousands of dead animals since the storm hit Sept. 22.
There was one bright spot on the horizon, however. Hurricane Lili, which roared across western Cuba on Tuesday, largely spared the inundated area more rains and wind.
Hurricane Isidore cost the region's agriculture sector $600 million, ripping papaya trees from the ground, flooding fields across the low-lying peninsula and killing livestock, Mexican Agriculture Secretary Javier Usabiaga said.
The storm robbed many fishermen of their boats, leaving families without an income after they already faced the loss of their homes and belongings.
Visiting the region on Tuesday, President Vicente Fox said officials were working to restore electricity, rebuild homes and help fishermen and others return to work.
"We are aware of the size of the tragedy," Fox said. "We are aware of what you lack, your needs. We are aware of the hard times you are going through, and we are working with intensity."
Officials collected donated goods in Mexico City's center, while television personalities handed out aid in flooded towns.
The countryside stank of rotting vegetation and animal carcasses, and livestock feed has been ruined, leaving surviving animals with little to eat.
Papaya producers were especially hard hit.
"We will be starting from scratch," said Raul Monforte, a papaya grower who also does consulting for a group of 40 independent producers.
Only about half of the region's 115 maquiladora, or assembly-for-export, plants have electricity, said Roman Zabaleta, executive director of Merida's Maquiladora Association.
Shipping has been at a near standstill, with only smaller boats docking at Progreso's pier, said port director Jose Huerta.
The Yucatan is clinging to one hope: tourism.
"The tourism industry has enormous potential to reactivate the economy of Yucatan state," Tourism Secretary Letitia Navarro said on a recent visit.
Tourism suffered the least damage in the storm, Navarro said.
The peninsula's main archaeological sites, including the Mayan ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itza, were open and the roads to get there were clear.
And in Merida, the capital of Yucatan state, there were signs that things were returning to normal. On Tuesday, residents returned to the city's square, strolling for an evening walk or lounging on park benches.
Elda Chan, 22, stood with her brother watching a performer.
"It's getting back to normal little by little," she said. "It's very slow."
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