000094 Visit since
My husband, Señor J. Roberto Contreras
Quintero, was the mayor of Vallarta in 1925. On October
24, 1925, the sky was overcast, gray and sad. It was raining hard but that did
not stop a group of local people from going horseback riding. Señor Don
Alfonso Bernal invited them to his ranch. The group of
locals went horseback riding to a ranch named El Coapinole (name of a tree) to
celebrate Señor Bernal's birthday. Throughout the day, it continued raining
hard and at night it became a thunderstorm. My husband
closed the pharmacy earlier than usual after he saw the storm hitting hard. He
came home soaking wet and I gave him clean clothes to change. He went to bed right
away but I stayed up worried about the storm. I didn't know why but I had a bad
feeling about it. The atmosphere was dense and made me feel uneasy. There were
strange noises coming from outside. Chickens were clucking loudly. On the corral,
the cows mooed in a strange way as if they were scared of something. I was agitated.
I went to the bedroom and told my husband, "I feel very nervous. I think
a hurricane is going to hit" He answered "Relax and go to bed. What
do you know about hurricanes anyway? "when have you ever seen a hurricane?" He
had just finished saying this when we felt the house shaking from its foundation.
The wind began to how with a deafening sound, the shingles on the roof started
blowing away. Thanks to an awning that covered the ceiling, bedroom was flooded,
leaving us only a small dry corner where I stood up holding my four children.
Roberto, the baby, was only three months old. It was so
impressive that we thought it was the end of the world! To make things worse,
the wind pulled off the lock of one window. My husband and I ran to try to shut
it, but a draft of suffocating hot air coming from the window stopped us. We didn't
have anything on hand to shut or hold the window closed. I was so desperate that
I took our bed apart and grabbed one of the boards to try shutting the window.
It was useless. The board didn't fit the panel and ended hitting me in the head.
I thought about using the bed's heavy metal stringer but the wind was so strong
that everything we tried didn't work. I felt lost and
defenseless. I turned to the image of Holy Virgin of Guadalupe and prayed for
help. I was deep in my prayers when miraculously something made me look at the
wall near us where we had hung a picture of The Sacred Heart. I climbed on a chair
and took the picture down. I was excited to find out the picture was the exact
size of the window panel giving it a tight fit. We covered the window immediately. When
we opened the window that gave to the inside hallway, we were astonished to see
flares of fire across the dark sky. When I asked around about this phenomenon
I was told it was called San Telmo's fire. We were fascinated watching the flashes,
but debris kept falling on our feet and we opted to go inside and close all doors.
We spent the rest of the night in fear. I don't remember exactly how long the
hurricane lasted, but it seemed it took forever. The next
day the sky was cloudy and everything was silent. We were anxious to know about
our neighbors and friends. When we went outside we saw all the destruction left
by the hurricane. The river had flooded and there was water running down the streets
up to the edge of our sidewalks. The mountains that were
before clustered with palm trees were now stripped of vegetation. The wind had
blown away the roofs of many houses; skimpy fishermen huts were torn down by the
wind. Fortunately there were no casualties. The family that had gone to the birthday
party came back home safe and so were our neighbors. Most affected were the huts
by the mouth of the Río Cuale. They were all destroyed. I felt sorry for
the fishermen who lived there with their families. Although they were stripped
of everything they owned, they were courageous people who knew how to handle difficult
situations. In order to save their lives and their loved ones from the strong
winds, they firmly tied netting around palm trees and fastened it with thick cable
used to tie their boats. Then, the courageous seamen held themselves strongly
to the cable until the wind died down. This site is at present Paseo Ocampo. As
Mayor of Vallarta, my husband was faced with the critical role of confronting
the devastation left by the hurricane. Along with Father Ayala, he went to provide
medical aid to the victims of the most affected areas. After
the hurricane, we were left with no communication with the rest of the world.
The winds had destroyed telegraph wires, which was our only way of communication.
People say that God helps when everything fails, and this was a true statement.
A few days later we were happy to see The Bolivar ship entering the bay. My husband
and his two assistants went immediately aboard the ship to radio the Governor
of the State of Jalisco Señor José Guadalupe Zuno, and inform him
of the disaster. They made a call to the Union of Congress to send help to the
victims. Congress promised to send $50,000.00 pesos (Fifty Thousand Pesos) immediately,
but the money was lost on the mail and never recovered. The local authorities
went to Congress representative Señor Guadalupe Covarrubias and with his
help and the one from Señor José María Cuellar, they organized
fundraisers in Guadalajara, such as bullfights, etc., to help the victims of the
disaster, including people from the towns of Talpa and Mascota. Catalina
Montes de Oca Aguilar
Read Doña
Catalina Montes de Oca Aguilar Autobiography
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the book "Puerto Vallarta en mis Recuerdos" -both versions- are published
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partial or total, in any medium is prohibited. Note:
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