Belize Rural North area representative, Edmund “Clear the Land” Castro, reports this morning that flood waters continue to rise – and worse is yet to come, for over 20 villages in the Belize River Valley area, as Cayo’s floodwaters, aggravated by several days of off-and-on showers, find their way into the eastern part of the country.
Four of six districts have suffered significant flooding, spawned by tropical depression #16 last week. But even while the Belize River Valley continued to take an indirect hit from the depression, waters in Cayo oddly fell and rose repeatedly over the weekend. As new rains came down, the Mopan River began to swell again, threatening residents of Cayo for a second time. Fortunately, the flooding was not nearly as severe as that which struck the area a week ago.
The flooding is, in fact, a regional catastrophe, having claimed 30 lives across affected areas – Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in addition to Belize. Honduras took the biggest hit with 127,000 victims and 14 deaths.
The death toll increased on Friday following a canoe accident. Right on the Belize-Guatemala border, tragedy befell a group of people traveling in a canoe. The Cayo arm of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has received unconfirmed information that a canoe with about five passengers onboard had capsized. The people, believed to be all Guatemalans, were making their way from Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala, to Arenal, a village which is located on the border, partially in Belize and partially in Guatemala.
Two more bodies – one of a woman and one of a child – were spotted floating downstream, near Succotz, Cayo, but had not been recovered at the time of this report, despite weekend reports that they had.
So far, officials have only been able to recover one body. Belize police reported today that their counterparts in Arenal, Guatemala, had recovered the body of a Guatemalan, Elsa Liliana Romero Mendez, 17, who apparently drowned in the Mopan after the boating accident on Friday.
Reyes Figueroa, 36, a Guatemalan volunteer of Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala, had reported to police that about 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, he and a team of 10 found Elsa’s body amongst some tree branches in the river, police say. Belizean officials report that the body was handed over to Guatemalan authorities.
They have not recovered those of the woman and the child, 6, seen floating down the river on Friday, while two men are said to be “missing,” on account of that incident.
Fatalities in Belize linked to TD#16 have fortunately been few. The only other deaths were reported the day before, as another canoe capsized at the Kendal crossing on Wednesday, October 22, after nightfall.
That incident claimed the life of a Nigerian woman, Mujeedat Olasunbo Biobaku, 30, whose body was recovered Thursday. Her male companion, Adulgatar Taye Bello, 35, fell into the water and is presumed to have also drowned. Only the captain of the vessel, Carlos Balona, 37, made it to safety.
Even though not many lives have been lost, very many people have been affected and displaced from their homes. NEMO Minister, Hon. Melvin Hulse, said on the Love FM morning show today that 16,000 people across 84 villages have so far been directly impacted by the floods. He expects that by the time the waters abate, as many as 700 homes will have suffered damage.
There are fears that the worst is yet to come for the Belize District, where the floods have put a damper on the lives of more than 4,300 people in the Belize River Valley, 910 of whom live in the Crooked Tree area, said Castro.
This weekend, widespread flooding was reported in many parts of the Belize River Valley, and water was spilling over to parts of the Northern Highway, and more notably the Burrell Boom Road, which had to be closed to vehicular traffic on Sunday, October 26.
According to Castro, water has risen more than six feet over the Crooked Tree causeway. Rancho Dolores and Lemonal have been completely cut off by the waters, and are accessible only by boat. Other villages impacted include Flowers Bank, Scotland Half Moon, Isabella Bank, Bamboo Patch, Maypen, Gardenia, Grace Bank, Davis Bank, Sandhill, Burrell Boom, Bakers Ranch, Bomba, Maskall, Lucky Strike, Rockstone Pond, St. Ann’s, Corozalito, and Boston.
The Government of Belize had issued a preliminary assessment last Wednesday, putting the damage in agricultural losses at a minimum of $12 million, but all indications are that the damage could be far more severe. The Belize District, which was not counted in that tally, will also have substantial agricultural losses, and with continued rains and flooding since Wednesday, further losses are expected for Cayo.
Almost 98% of crops in the Belize River Valley have been lost, and at Big Falls in St. Paul’s Bank, over 150 acres of rice are under water, said Castro. Livestock losses are also expected, and since they won’t be able to move all the animals to higher ground, some would very likely perish in the floods, he lamented.
Although the Belize District’s tragedy is still unfolding, the situation in Cayo is improving, though not fast enough.
Pablo Chan, chairperson for the education, information and warning committee of NEMO, reports today that even though there are still some homes under water in villages affected by the overflowing of the Mopan River, the water levels are not as high as last week.
Cayo residents almost experienced déjà vu over the weekend, when a second call was made for an evacuation at places like Bullet Tree Falls. The river has been playing with us, said Chan, reporting that the levels had been rising and falling repeatedly in the days past.
Cayo, which was declared a disaster area by Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Wednesday, had continued to experience fresh flooding well into the weekend.
A flashflood on Thursday night had forced the closure of the road between Georgeville and San Antonio. NEMO reported on Friday that rainfall in the Mountain Pine Ridge area had triggered a flashflood, washing a vehicle off the highway.
“There was quick response from the Cayo District Emergency Committee, other agencies and concerned citizens. The driver, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, was rescued and taken to safety. A number of houses in Georgeville were also affected by the flashflood,” said NEMO’s report.
Because the flashflood washed away a portion of the road, it had to be closed to small vehicles. Other drivers were advised to exercise extreme caution in traveling that piece of road.
This week’s forecast looks encouraging, as a frontal system has alleviated the rains over the country, but Cayo’s flood waters will continue making their way into the Belize River Valley area and other vulnerable, low-lying parts of the Belize District in the days ahead. Officials, as well as area residents, continue to be on alert – not knowing exactly what will unfold in the days ahead.
Officials do expect, however, that flood levels should recede within the next one to two weeks for most of the affected areas. Remarkably, Castro says that Crooked Tree could have excess waters well into Christmas.
Humanitarian efforts by NEMO and the Belize Red Cross continue in the flood-stricken parts of Belize, and medical teams have been dispatched to help displaced persons in need of healthcare.
Today, Prime Minister Barrow is touring the Belize River Valley’s flooded communities, to take stock of the impact there.