The Mameyes disaster
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Puerto Rico was hit by the Mameyes disaster on October 7, 1985.
It rained a lot during the first week of that month in Ponce and the rest of the island. Many sectors of the Southern part of the island, including Ponce, suffered flooding and the forecast called for dangerous chance of landslides. After all, in Ponce alone the heavy rains dropped more than 12 inches in a period of 24 hours.
The reason for the heavy rainfall was a tropical storm, named Isabel, which passed over the Caribbean Basin. The residents of Mameyes felt unsecured and uncomfortable thinking about the increase ground saturation and the risks it involved.
Their fear became a nightmare when around 3:30AM on October 7, 1985 the soil could not withstand the increase degree of saturation and started to gave way to a killer landslide. A great part of the area of Mameyes disappeared under the mud.
The dead toll was first estimated to be 129 people, later recounted and lowered to 94 but many of them unable to be recovered.
At that point the disaster and tragedy of Mameyes counted for the greatest number of casualties of any single landslide in Puerto Rico and United States commonwealths.
International help
The government of Puerto Rico received messages of condolence from many countries from around the world. A television marathon was organized, with Mexican actress Veronica Castro giving a memorable speech about how it was Mexico's turn now to help Puerto Rico; after Puerto Rico had sent help to the victims of the Mexico City earthquake that had taken place one month before. Emergency workers, along with dogs, arrived from Mexico, Venezuela, France and other countries.
Urban Legends
Many Puerto Ricans speculated that what happened in Mameyes was a punishment from God: The area had been known for having a high incidence of crime. On the other hand, after a volcano erupted in Colombia about a month later, killing thousands, many started rumors that Latin American countries were doomed, noting that Mexico, Puerto Rico and Colombia had suffered large tragedies within two months. Many citizens of other Hispanic countries actually wondered which country would be hit next. As it turned out, a considerable amount of time went by before another Hispanic country suffered a large magnitude tragedy.