Monument to Rebirth after Hurricane Janet (1955)
Hurricane Janet was the first officially recorded hurricane in the region. It made landfall on September 27, 1955, in Quintana Roo as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. According to newspapers from the time, the storm’s worst impact was felt in Chetumal, the state capital. The hurricane claimed 712 lives (data from CENAPRED) and nearly wiped out all the homes in its path, most of which were made of wood and other fragile materials.
Unbelievable stories:
Every hurricane leaves behind unforgettable memories, and Janet was no exception.
One of the most iconic images still remembered today is a flag that pierced right through a tree—a replica of it now stands in Chetumal’s main square, known as Explanada de la Bandera.
Then there’s the story of the “flying house,” a wooden and zinc-roofed structure that still stands today at the corner of Calzada Veracruz and 22 de Enero, right in the heart of the city.
According to local accounts:
“The house was swept away from its original location—dragged over 500 meters during Janet’s landfall—with around 25 people still inside.”
Another strange event: a concrete water tank twisted around a palm tree by the sheer force of the wind.
This was Janet’s path:
Just like today, many people at the time waited until the last minute to protect their families and their homes. A mistake that, tragically, cost many of them their lives.
To make matters worse, just eight days earlier, on September 19, another storm—Hurricane Hilda—had passed through the region. It mainly affected Felipe Carrillo Puerto, causing only mild damage in Chetumal. People assumed, quite naively, that Hilda had fulfilled the season’s “hurricane quota.”
But as we now know all too well—that’s not how hurricanes work. The worst was still to come.