Whoever lives in Mexico City knows that its location not only makes it especially susceptible to earthquakes.
Its foundation on a lake makes it also tremendously vulnerable to flooding. That is why, for seven centuries, the inhabitants of this area have looked suspiciously at the sky when it rains heavily, fearing dramatic consequences.
East 13 May, the Mexican government commemorated the 700 years of the founding of Tenochtitlan, former Mexican capital and current Mexico City.
And although there are great doubts about the veracity of this date – many historians believe that the anniversary would be celebrated in 2025 -, of which there is no doubt that the megacity has faced major floods throughout its history.
But among all of them, the one registered in 1629: a disaster that, although unknown to many, was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedies of all times for the city.
The force of the rain was such that the capital “disappeared” under the waters for no less than five years and it was even considered transfer to another place. The city had to literally emerge and rebuild itself almost from scratch.
That catastrophe that marked an entire generation is known as the deluge or flood of San Mateo.
The problems of living on a lake
When the Mexica founded Tenochtitlan in the 14th century they knew the risk of locating it in the middle of Lake Tezcuco. That is why they carried out works such as dams and stone walls to control the level of the waters that surrounded them.
When it fell to the Spanish two centuries later, Hernán Cortés led the construction on those ruins of a magnificent city destined to be the capital of the viceroyalty of New Spain.
Palaces, churches, squares and hospitals were built between lakes, but not adequate drainage systems for that environment.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Mexico City suffered up to five major floods.
The authorities thought as a solution to build a large drain that outside draining the lakes of the basin of Mexico.
The project was entrusted to the engineer Enrico Martínez, who began the works of the Huehuetoca canal in 1607. But the disaster looked closer and closer.
“Enrico Martínez understood that deforestation, grazing without discrimination and the expansion of crops they had eroded the layer of earth. Year after year, heavy rains dragged more land into the lakes, raising the water level ”, wrote Richard Everett Boyer in his book“ The Great Flood. ”
Two decades after the start of its construction, constant modifications and lack of investment meant that the canal was still not working.
A deserted city
When you enter the 20 Y 21 September 1629 A great waterspout hit the capital, Martínez decided to block the entrance of the canal to prevent the water from affecting the repairs that were being carried out.
The consequences for the inhabitants of the city were dramatic. The rain that fell with fury during 36 hours in a row it fell unstoppably from the mountains to the city, where the water level exceeded two meters in height.
The torrent devastated the fragile adobe houses of the indigenous population that lived on the outskirts of Mexico City.
The dead were counted by the thousands, floating among animals and furniture carried by the current that reached the upper floors of the houses that had been left standing.
Many of the inhabitants of the wealthy classes who survived decided to leave. Some sources suggest that of 20, 000 families who lived before the flood, they were left alone 400.
“That great city was almost abandoned, deserted . The panorama was bleak and the scenes that were seen were apocalyptic ”, tells BBC Mundo Enrique Ortiz García, writer and chronicler from Mexico City.
One of them, highlights the cultural promoter, is the procession that was organized over the waters and in which some participated canoes headed by the Virgin of Guadalupe, whom the inhabitants asked to intercede so that the waters dissipate.
Or the so-called “island of dogs” , a mound on the uneven floor of the current Zócalo square where all the stray dogs of the city came desperately to take refuge and avoid drowning.
Living flooded
The waters did not go down, so those who they stayed they had to learn to live with them.
Wooden bridges were placed on the roofs and the canoes were recovered, as they were used in the ancient Tenochtitlan, as the only way to get around the city. The houses could only be entered through the windows on the second floor.
The priests celebrated Masses on the roofs of the convents to try to comfort the neighbors, who listened to them from their homes believing that were condemned, like that city, to disappear.
There was a shortage of food and the looting was continuous. Lack of hygiene and stagnant polluted water in the flooded city spread diseases like gunpowder.
“This city will never be populated again”, Fray Gonzalo de Córdoba wrote, as highlighted by Héctor de Mauleón in his book “The Hidden City”.
- Aztecs or Mexica: who founded Mexico (and why what causes confusion)?
- “The Venice of the New World “: This was the great Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire that dazzled Hernán Cortés ago 500 years
Two years after the flood, and unable to discover a system to make the waters disappear, the authorities discussed the possibility of moving the city to another place.
Rodrigo Pacheco y Osorio, Marquis of Cerralvo and Viceroy of New Spain, considered establishing the capital in Coyoacán or Tacuba.
But the idea was finally rejected. The investment to create Mexico City had been millionaire, so rebuilding the works and buildings affected by water would be cheaper than starting a city from scratch.
A marked generation
The city continued to suffer torrential rains and remained under water for no less than five years.
It was not until 1634 that a drought lowered the water level. Many preferred to think that it was their prayers to the Virgin of Guadalupe that saved the capital.
It is estimated that some 30, 000 people died in total, drowned or by diseases caused by the floods during the following years.
The catastrophe, therefore, marked an entire generation of citizens of the capital. The foundations of all the buildings were damaged and many ended up collapsing some time later.
“In today’s Mexico City there are no more than 13 constructions prior to 1629 . The flooding was of such a degree that practically the entire city had to be rebuilt over time, ”says Ortiz García.
That decision to keep Mexico City in its original location undeniably marks the fate of those who live in it centuries later. “It is an extreme sport to live in this city because you take care of floods, earthquakes because it is a seismic zone …”, says the writer.
However, and despite being one of the most important tragedies in the history of the capital with effects and consequences to this day, the tragedy of the San Mateo flood is not widely known.
According to Ortiz García, “the viceregal period in Mexico is generally little studied because still, in some way, ‘creeps’ in the minds of Mexicans. The post-revolutionary governments extolled the original cultures and everything that marks the origin of independent Mexico. ”
“ Some even instilled a contempt for the Spanish occupation because they saw it from a context current. That is to understand history in a bad way, because they are events of the past that are also part of our existence ”, concludes.
Remember to what you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download to our app and activate them so as not to miss our best content.