Historic bottling plant’s roof collapses under heavy rain

The roof of a former bottling plant collapsed in heavy rain Tuesday. Photo: Diario de Yucatán via YouTube

Mérida, Yucatán — Another heavy rain, another collapse.

Part of the roof at the old Sidra Pino bottling plant in the Santiago neighborhood collapsed Tuesday. Although damage is not visible from the street, authorities said a south-facing exterior wall is teetering as well.

The plant at Calle 63 and 72 is in Mérida’s collective memory, producing a local brand of flavored sodas until just six years ago. For a time, Sidra Pino symbolized Yucatán almost at the level of cochinita pibil and panuchos.

The plant was built in 1888, but competition brought down the company starting in the 1990s. Soldado de Chocolate and other once-popular soft drinks disappeared from shelves in 2011.

Now the iconic plant that produced the beverage is in peril. Firefighters have cordoned off the area in case rubble spills onto the street.

Across town a week earlier, a heavy downfall brought down a deteriorating mansion at Calle 44.


The more recent heavy downpour flooded the underpass at the Prolongación de Paseo de Montejo as well as Calle 21 at Col. Miguel Hidalgo and the south side of Plaza Las Americas, where floods are common. Several traffic lights were also damaged by rain, most notably at the busy intersection of the Prolongación and La Hacienda Villas, where road chaos ensued, reports Diario.

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