Uruguay water crisis: how did we get here?
Uruguay has some of the most abundant water sources in the world. But the capital was told we had water supplies for just 18 days.
Every year in August, Uruguayans brace for “La Tormenta de Santa Rosa”—a weird weather phenomenon caused by the first warm winds of the southern spring clashing with cold fronts from over the Antarctic Sea.
I had never lived in a country before where locals would predict a storm coming on an annual basis, but in this part of the world, everyone expects a big storm five days before or up till five days after August 30.
August 30 marks the festival of Santa Rosa that occurs in Peru. The legend of Santa Rosa tells that in 1615 Dutch pirates were on their way to Lima to ransack the city. A young woman called Isabel Flores de Oliva, nicknamed Rosa (or the Rose) because of her extraordinary beauty, offered her life in return for Lima’s sparing. One story says that God conjured up a storm and sent the Dutch ships to the deep. Others tell that the Dutch fleet turned away inexplicably leaving Lima unscathed. Either way, all agreed that Isabel –who was later canonised Santa Rosa– had saved Lima.
Climate data shows that the Storm of Santa Rosa is one of the first to form at the end of Southern winter, between August 20 and September 20.
Uruguayans (and people in neighbouring Argentina) will tell you that the Santa Rosa storm is one of the most violent of the year. However even if we get just a bit of rain, everyone is very content to claim it on the Saint’s behalf.
The Argentinian meteorological service keeps a special archive on the Santa Rosa phenomenon and has records since 1906 which focus on any climate instability occurring between August 25 and September 4. For the 106 years up until 2012, the storm had occurred 57 times (54%).
You can make up your own mind.
The clip above collects photos that appeared in someone’s Facebook feed during and after the Santa Rosa which occurred on September 19 2012 in Uruguay. (Tip, turn off the audio)
Photos courtesy of Jimmy Baikovicius and zteps
Uruguay water crisis: how did we get here?
Uruguay has some of the most abundant water sources in the world. But the capital was told we had water supplies for just 18 days.
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Traditional food, handmade goods, and South American cowboys riding wild horses. It’s the Semana Criolla – Montevideo’s Easter gaucho festival.
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Between Christmas & New Year, Montevideans leave town in droves. So what to do you do? There’s still the beaches, tango, fireworks and… water fights!
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5 Responses
I love Montevideo. I have visited 6 times, typically I stay 2 months during January, February and March. Great weather, great food. Very safe, if you use good sense. Night-time very dangerous in ANY large city – avoid. Not inexpensive. Overall, Expect to pay about 15 % more than Mid West US prices. The Uruguayans are wonderful people.
Hi RM, thanks for taking the time to comment. That’s great that you’ve visited so frequently. I’m not sure about your comment regarding danger in large cities at night — primarily because Uruguay has just one city which could be considered large (Montevideo having 1.5 million people). I have lived there for over twenty years and have no hesitation walking alone as a woman through any neighbourhood where a foreigner would visit or live, taking the regular precautions that anyone would. For more info, see our article about safety in Montevideo. The rest–totally in agreement! All the best, Karen
Just today I was thinking it’s about the right time to start hearing talk and speculation about this year’s S.R. I checked my photos – that storm that everyone talks about really WAS 2005, OMG. 5000 x100+ year old trees were downed along the coast from east of Colonia to PDE, including 2500 in MVD itself. It was a wild night that I will never forget. It came up out of the blue, and sadly 11 people lost their lives that night.
Hi Alison, yes, it was absolutely incredible. My family went out walking around Montevideo after it had calmed down. There were felled trees just absolutely everywhere. I didn’t recall so many people had lost their lives… There’s an article which backs you up – 10 dead in Uruguay and 2 in Buenos Aires due to high winds. Terrible. Thanks for sharing– Karen
In some ways Uruguay is like a step back in time to a gentler, softer culture and way of life. Tourists wanting to avoid the rat races of Rio and Buenos Aires would enjoy a visit to Uruguay-the longer, the better.