Hurricane John Airlift
Baja California Sur
September 2006
In early September, Hurricane John came up the Sea of Cortez and hit the Baja peninsula. In addition to extensive damage in the town of Mulege, there was severe flooding in much of Baja California Sur. In particular, there were numerous villages and ranches stranded by the flooding in the Sierra de la Giganta mountains west of Loreto.
Cruz Roja Mexicana (the Mexican Red Cross) started a humanitarian aid program, and Mexican corporations, such as Wal-Mart and Fundacion Bancomer, donated food boxes. While many places, such as Mulege, were accessible by road, the problem was distribution to places cut-off by flooding and far from airports or landing strips. The airlift became a reality when a wonderful group called The Baja Bush Pilots (www.bajabushpilots.com) got involved. In addition to sending messages to their 4000 members asking them to fly planes full of donations directly to Mulege, President Jack McCormick also offered to organize an airlift with spotter aircraft and helicopters (the key to landing in remote spots) to assist Cruz Roja in distributing their food boxes.
The first airlift effort took place the weekend of September 10th, and I had the pleasure of working, and flying, with the skilled pilots delivering supplies. We made 3 trips in and out of the Loreto airport, flying close to 9 hours. I will never forget the first ranch we spotted, and the man who ran out and flashed a mirror with all his might as we circled. On our last trip, we evacuated an elderly woman (who had never been in a plane, much less a helicopter!) out to a nearby community...her friends in the village were so glad to see her.
Once back in the US, Jack started working to organize a 2nd, much larger, airlift operation. Cruz Roja obtained thousands of additional boxes of food, and the Loreto Bay Foundation made a $5000 grant to help with the pilots’ extensive fuel costs. Everything was set for the weekend of Sept. 15, but then another hurricane, south of Cabo, threatened the area and project. The 2nd airlift was reluctantly postponed to the following week. By Sept. 19, the weather was calm and the boat with food boxes was on its way from Mazatlan to La Paz. Over the next four days, a large number of pilots (both fixed-wing and helicopters) distributed hundreds of food boxes from La Paz to Loreto to Mulege. It was an amazing effort that involved many people helping in various ways.
I took quite a few photos and was truly amazed at the amount of water. In the midst of the damage and flooding, the desert and the mountains were alive with color, an indescribable shade of green. In addition to reminding me of the stunning beauty of the Baja, this project also reinforced one of my main motivations for living here—the ability to meet wonderfully kind people and work with them to help others…in a truly “grass roots” way.
Click to view the Baja Bush Pilots message about the Airlift
Click the links below to see more photos of the airlift