Hilary's Downpour

Yesterday I wrote about Saturday's downpour in Mexico City which was associated with Hurricane Hilary.  Mexico City has a long history of flooding going all the way back to when it was the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.  Some parts of the city were inundated by Hilary's torrential rains. 

I tried to find some photos on the internet of Saturday's flooding, but I was unable to find anything that I could download and use on the blog.  I did, however, find several YouTube videos.

In this news report in Spanish, you can see how some streets became raging rivers, and numerous trees fell.

In this video you can see the flood waters sweeping through a "tianguis" (outdoor market) in the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa.

While searching the internet, I came upon some photos of a flood in July of 1951 which submerged two thirds of the city, and which in some areas did not recede until three months later.

However, none of this compares to the great flood of 1629.  A heavy rainstorm which lasted 40 hours submerged the entire city to a depth of over six feet.  The waters did not completely recede until 1634 when drainage canals were finally completed. The flood and subsequent disease resulted in around 30,000 deaths.  Of the 20,000 Spanish families that lived in the city, all but 400 moved out.  There was talk of moving the colonial capital to another city, but it was decided that Mexico City should be rebuilt.