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The Baja California Sur state congress approved a decree on May 14 designating 2026 as the year “In Honor of the Victims, Anonymous Heroes, and Survivors of Hurricane Liza.” The measure marks the 50th anniversary of the catastrophic 1976 storm, which killed thousands of people in and around La Paz and remains the deadliest natural disaster in the peninsula’s history.
Under the decree, all official state stationery across BCS’s five municipalities, three branches of government, and autonomous bodies must carry a commemorative inscription during each hurricane season going forward. The state’s Civil Protection Subsecretariat will organize a program of memorial activities tied to the annual observance.
The Deadliest Storm in BCS History
Hurricane Liza struck the southern Baja California Peninsula on the night of September 30, 1976. The storm passed roughly 65 miles east of Cabo San Lucas at peak intensity, a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds near 130 mph. La Paz received what some accounts describe as nearly a year’s worth of rainfall in just three hours, with totals reaching 11.8 inches in parts of the southern peninsula. El Triunfo and San Antonio recorded up to 22 inches.
The torrential rain burst an earthen dam south of La Paz, sending a wall of floodwater through low-lying neighborhoods in the early morning hours of October 1. The official death toll was listed at around 600, but independent estimates place the number between 5,000 and 10,000. At the time, the entire state had a population of roughly 130,000. Total damage in BCS reached an estimated $100 million.
A Recurring Annual Mandate
The decree is not limited to 2026. By requiring the commemorative inscription on government documents each hurricane season, the legislature has created an ongoing obligation for state and municipal offices. The intent is to tie the remembrance directly to the months when BCS faces the greatest storm risk, typically June through November.
BCS has experienced several major hurricanes since Liza, most recently Hurricane Odile in 2014, which caused widespread damage across Los Cabos and La Paz. Odile was the costliest storm in peninsula history but caused far fewer deaths, in part because of improved infrastructure and evacuation protocols developed in the decades after Liza.
The 2026 Pacific hurricane season is expected to begin on June 1. First reported by BCS Noticias.