The Atoyac River is a river in
Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. The Atoyac flows into the
Rio Verde which empties into the Pacific near
Laguna Chacahua, in
Lagunas de Chacahua National Park
The Lagunas de Chacahuan National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Lagunas de Chacahua), created in 1937,
is a national park located in the Municipality of ChineseVilla de Tututepec de Melchor Ocampo in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, about 54 km w ...
, 90 km west of
Puerto Escondido. The mountainous terrain of the region it occupies allows for no navigable rivers; instead, there are a large number of smaller ones, which often change name from area to area. The continental divide passes through the state, meaning that there is drainage towards both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Most of the drainage towards the Gulf is represented by the
Papaloapan and
Coatzacoalcos Rivers and their tributaries such as the Grande and Salado Rivers. Three rivers account for most of the water headed for the Pacific: the
Mixteco River,
Tehuantepec River
The Tehuantepec River is a river in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Tehuantepec flows into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The mountainous terrain of the region it occupies allows for no navigable rivers; ins ...
, and the Atoyac, with their tributaries.
During 1984's
Hurricane Odile
Hurricane Odile is tied for the most intense landfalling tropical cyclone in the Baja California Peninsula during the satellite era. Sweeping across the peninsula in September 2014, Odile inflicted widespread damage, particularly in the ...
, eighteen passengers and three crewman drowned in flooding on the Atoyac River.
See also
*
List of rivers of Mexico
This is a list of rivers of Mexico, listed from north to south. There are 246 rivers on this list. Alternate names for rivers are given in parentheses.
Rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico
*Río Bravo, the name of the Rio Grande in Mexico
** Sa ...
References
*Atlas of Mexico, 1975 (https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_mexico/river_basins.jpg).
*The Prentice Hall American World Atlas, 1984.
*Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993.
Rivers of Oaxaca
{{Mexico-river-stub