The bad weather caused by hurricane “Milton” caused damage to two hermitages in the interior of the state, reported architect Javier Vázquez Cuevas, member of the Commission of Sacred Art of the Archdiocese of Yucatán.
Damage was reported one week ago, on Sunday, October 6th, when the cyclone was approaching, and due to its rains a hermitage outside the community of Tinum was damaged.
The bell tower was struck by lightning at 11 pm and the structure was damaged, as it was cracked.
The INAH has already been notified of this damage and arrangements are being made for the institution to come and provide an expert opinion.
“They say in the towns that it rained more last Sunday night than any other day,” commented the specialist.
The other damaged structure is in the Tekax hermitage, possibly in the early hours of Monday.
The rains washed away the wall of the atrium in front of the temple and logically it collapsed. The City Council closed access to the hermitage.
This damage is added to the damage to the arch of the church in the Center. The community of Tekax was left without its two main churches: the parish and the hermitage.
The interviewee reiterated that the assessment of the damage to the parish is being made to find out the reason.
“In the hermitage, the damage was due to the rains, it was a landslide from the landfill,” he said.
Other churches in the state have leaks, but it is not due to the recent storm, but rather due to the poor maintenance they are given.
Expert reports on damages caused by “Milton”
The member of the Commission of Sacred Art of the Archdiocese of Yucatan explained that an official letter was sent to the National Institute of Anthropology and History so that this authority, through its experts, could give the expert report and since both are natural disasters due to rain, the institution has insurance.
“We will see if the insurance that the INAH has can be activated,” he said.
In the case of the Tinum temple, there is a danger that the bell tower could collapse, the crack can be seen, he said.
He also recalled that in Tekantó, up to today, the INAH has not restored damages caused by the storm “Cristóbal”, whose intense rains caused a part of a wall of the bell tower to collapse.
The INAH said that this was covered by the insurance and 4 years have passed and it has not yet been repaired, he said.
If the hurricane had come, it would have fallen because it has been propped up for four years, warned the specialist.
He said that another case is in the atrium of the Izamal convent, where the State government has been propping up some parts of the atrium for two years, and to this day it has not been repaired.
Risk due to damaged temples
He reiterated that in the case of Tekantó and Izamal, the architectural heritage of the state is in danger.
“One day when a hurricane or a strong north wind comes, they will collapse,” he warned.
He explained that in the case of the Izamal convent, it was not the INAH that acted, but the State government of the previous administration, and said that it was going to repair it, but they left and did not do it.
Five arches of the atrium have been shored up for two years, they are just before entering the church, next to the monument to San Juan Pablo.
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