Climate crisis? Sinaloa went from severe drought to floods

Only 8 municipalities are in the category of abnormally dry.

MAZATLAN. – The latest report from the drought monitor in Mexico shared by the National Meteorological System (SMN), positions Sinaloa as one of the states without drought, but with severe flooding due to the Mexican Monsoon.

The report indicates that Sinaloa has 72.7 percent of its territory unaffected and 27.3 percent of its territory in the abnormally dry category. The state went from 5.8 percent to 0.0 percent in the moderate drought category; in severe, extreme and exceptional drought it registered 0.0 percent respectively.  

The municipalities that are within the parameters of abnormally dry are part of the south of Culiacán, Cosalá, San Ignacio, part of the west of Mazatlán, Concordia, Escuinapa, Rosario and Escuinapa, the rest of the municipalities are without drought.  

And this happened thanks to the fact that during August rains above the average were observed along the coasts of the Mexican Pacific, the northwest of the country and the Sierra Madre Occidental. These rains were caused by the persistence of the North American Monsoon in the northwest, better known as the Mexican Monsoon, which left rains mainly in the states of Sonora and Sinaloa.  

In the cutoff of May 15, 2022, the day the hurricane season began in the Mexican Pacific, the entire state of Sinaloa registered severe, moderate and abnormally dry drought, except for two municipalities, Rosario and Escuinapa.

However, this changed during August, because according to the SMN rain report, Sinaloa was the state where the most rainfall was recorded during this month. Sinaloa led the table with 339.3 millimeters, 139 millimeters more than what was recorded during the month of July.  

The aforementioned rains caused heavy flooding in Culiacán and Mazatlán, causing the formation of water currents that dragged vehicles, houses were also flooded with material losses and dozens of people had to be evacuated and rescued to be taken to safe places.  

The recent rains caused by Category 2 Hurricane Kay have also caused damage in recent days. Kay has caused material losses, floods, and the suspension of classes in all the municipalities of Sinaloa.  

At the national level, there are 596 municipalities of the Mexican Republic that remain in the drought category, this corresponds to 24.2 percent of the entire territory of the country.

The Mazatlan Post