No hay señal, no hay luz—everything is broken
In the early hours of a Saturday in August 2021, Hurricane Grace came ashore on the coast of Veracruz, Mexico, carrying the force of a Category 3 storm and leaving at least eight people dead — among them a seven-year-old girl buried beneath her home by a landslide. The storm, which had already crossed the Caribbean and complicated disaster response in earthquake-stricken Haiti, did not end at the coast; weakened but unspent, it turned inland toward the heart of Mexico, trailing warnings of floods and mudslides across a dozen states. In moments like these, the distance between ordinary life and catastrophe reveals itself to be no distance at all.
- Grace struck Veracruz before dawn with winds above 200 km/h, killing eight people in ways that felt almost random — a falling dome, a collapsing hillside, a family of six lost in a single structure.
- Tecolutla, the first town in the storm's path, was left completely unreachable by morning, with ninety percent of its infrastructure destroyed and no communications, power, or access for aid workers.
- Even as Governor García announced the death toll to reporters, new fatalities were being confirmed — the count rising in real time, the full scope of the damage still unknown.
- Grace had already disrupted Haiti's earthquake rescue efforts and shuttered Cancún's airport before reorganizing over the Gulf and intensifying into a Category 3 storm in a matter of hours.
- Downgraded to Category 1 but far from harmless, the storm's remnants were forecast to bring dangerous rainfall, river flooding, and mudslides to at least a dozen Mexican states through the weekend.
Hurricane Grace made landfall on the Veracruz coast before dawn on a Saturday in August, striking with the full force of a Category 3 storm. By morning it had weakened to Category 1 as it moved inland, but the destruction it left behind was already complete. Wind gusts above 200 kilometers per hour had torn through municipalities including Poza Rica, Tecolutla, and Cazones de Herrera, snapping power lines, collapsing buildings, and leaving streets unrecognizable.
The deaths arrived in cruel and varied forms. An elderly person in Poza Rica was struck by a falling dome in the night. In Xalapa, a landslide destroyed a home and killed six members of the same family — among them a seven-year-old girl. Governor Cuitláhuac García was still speaking to reporters about confirmed fatalities when another death was reported. President López Obrador offered condolences and assured grieving families they were not alone.
Tecolutla, the first municipality to absorb Grace's full impact, was entirely cut off by Saturday morning — communications severed, aid unable to reach it, ninety percent of its infrastructure damaged. A Poza Rica resident trying to reach family there described water tanks ripped from rooftops, toppled billboards, and every cable and window shattered. He could only imagine conditions in Tecolutla were the same or worse.
Grace had been building all week. It formed in the Atlantic, crossed the Caribbean, and passed over Puerto Rico and Hispaniola — where its presence complicated rescue operations in Haiti just as a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck that same morning. After making a first, weaker landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula Thursday with no casualties, the storm reorganized over the warm Gulf of Mexico, jumping from Category 2 to Category 3 within an hour on Friday night before slamming into Veracruz.
With the storm now pushing westward, authorities across Mexico braced for what was coming. The governor urged residents to seek higher ground. The head of the National Water Commission called on states including Chiapas, Morelos, and Guanajuato to prepare for severe rainfall. Alerts were issued for more than a dozen states, warning of landslides, flooding, and rising rivers. In Mexico City, emergency personnel were already deployed. The storm had weakened, but it was far from over.
Hurricane Grace made landfall in Veracruz before dawn on Saturday with the force of a Category 3 storm, leaving at least eight people dead and three others missing across the Mexican state. By morning, the system had weakened to Category 1 as it pushed inland toward the center of the country, but the damage it carved through the coast was already irreversible. Wind gusts exceeding 200 kilometers per hour had scoured municipalities like Poza Rica, Tecolutla, and Cazones de Herrera, snapping power lines, collapsing structures, and turning ordinary streets into scenes of devastation that residents struggled to describe.
The deaths came in ways that felt almost arbitrary in their cruelty. In Poza Rica, an elderly person was struck by a falling dome while walking through the night. In Xalapa, a seven-year-old girl died when a landslide collapsed her home, killing her mother and other family members in the same structure—six people from one household erased in a single moment. As Governor Cuitláhuac García spoke to reporters about the confirmed deaths, another fatality was being reported, the count climbing even as he spoke. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a statement of condolence to the families of the children and adults who had died, assuring them they were not alone.
Tecolutla, the first municipality to feel Grace's full force, had become unreachable by Saturday morning. The town sat cut off from the outside world, its communications severed, aid unable to arrive. Local reports suggested that ninety percent of the infrastructure in the area had been damaged. A resident of Poza Rica named Arturo Caballero, who had spent the morning trying to reach family members in Tecolutla, described the scene to reporters with the exhaustion of someone who had witnessed something beyond normal language. Water tanks had been ripped from rooftops and smashed on the ground. Billboards lay toppled. Every electrical line, every internet cable, every window—all of it scattered and broken. He imagined conditions in Tecolutla and the surrounding areas were the same or worse.
Grace had been building strength throughout the week. It formed in the Atlantic, crossed the Caribbean, and passed over Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola—where Haiti and the Dominican Republic sit—complicating rescue efforts in Haiti just as a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the country on Saturday morning. The storm then shifted course toward the Yucatán Peninsula on Wednesday. When it made its first landfall in the early hours of Thursday, it had weakened to a tropical storm with sustained winds of ninety-five kilometers per hour. The Yucatán Peninsula experienced material damage but no deaths or injuries, according to officials. The Riviera Maya's hotel zone woke empty. Cancún's airport, which had closed for more than twelve hours, reopened Saturday morning. The Federal Electricity Commission had preemptively cut power to at least 150,000 users across the peninsula as a precaution.
But Grace was not finished. By Friday night, the system had reorganized and intensified over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Meteorological Service announced it had reached Category 2 status at nine in the evening, then upgraded it to Category 3 an hour later. The storm was moving toward Veracruz's coast, and when it arrived, it struck with the full weight of that higher classification. By Saturday morning, as it continued westward into the interior, it had degraded to Category 1, but the trajectory of heavy rain was already set.
Governor García urged residents to move to higher ground and relocate their belongings to safe areas. The runoff would continue throughout the day and intensify around five in the afternoon, he warned. The state of emergency had not ended. Germán Santoyo, director of Mexico's National Water Commission, announced that very heavy rainfall was expected to move inland, and he called on authorities in Chiapas, Morelos, and Guanajuato to prepare for the worst. Alerts were also issued for Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Tabasco, and Sinaloa. Few states would escape the storm's path. Officials warned of landslides, rising river and stream levels, and flooding in low-lying areas. In the capital, Mexico City's head of government, Claudia Sheimbaum, had already mobilized firefighters and civil protection personnel to respond to the heavy rain and wind expected through the weekend.
Citações Notáveis
The state of emergency has not ended. We insist that people seek higher ground and move their belongings to safe areas, because runoff will continue throughout the day and intensify around five in the afternoon.— Governor Cuitláhuac García of Veracruz
My condolences to the families of children and adults who died from the hurricane in Xalapa and other places in Veracruz. You are not alone. You have Cuitláhuac and all of us.— President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did Grace intensify so suddenly over the Gulf of Mexico when it had just weakened crossing the Yucatán?
Warm water. The Gulf was warm enough to feed it. It had lost energy over land, but once it moved back over open water, it had fuel again. That's how these systems work—they're not finished until they're over cold water or land for good.
The fact that Tecolutla is completely cut off—what does that actually mean for the people there?
It means no one knows the full extent of what happened. No aid can reach them. No one can call out. When ninety percent of infrastructure is damaged, you're talking about no power, no water, no way to communicate. People are isolated with whatever damage occurred around them.
A seven-year-old girl killed by a landslide, along with her mother and four others from the same family. That's a specific kind of tragedy.
It is. One moment, one house, one family gone. That's what a landslide does—it doesn't discriminate. It just comes down. And in a mountainous area like Xalapa, after heavy rain, it's almost inevitable.
Why did the governor keep updating the death toll during his press conference?
Because it was still happening. The emergency wasn't over. Reports were coming in in real time. He was speaking to the public while the situation was still unfolding, which is why the numbers kept changing.
The storm crossed Haiti right before an earthquake hit. That seems almost cruel.
It was. Haiti was already dealing with the aftermath of Grace when the earthquake struck. Search and rescue operations were already complicated by the storm. Then the ground shook. It compounded everything.
What happens now for the people in places like Tecolutla?
They wait for access to return. For roads to clear. For power to be restored. For communication to come back. And they count what they've lost.