BELIZE CITY. Fri. Nov. 4, 2022
Hurricane Lisa was the storm that came out of nowhere. Many Belizeans, many of whom were very aware that hurricanes have not historically hit the country in November, the last month of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, were no longer monitoring activity in the Atlantic. And then word came that there was a disturbance that was heading in this direction. Not too long after, it became clear that almost all possible trajectories had the storm making landfall in some part of Belize.
According to projections, the most likely location of landfall would be somewhere near Dangriga. All meteorological updates were indicating that the storm was moving at about 14 or 15 miles per hour, and although it was a tropical storm it would likely become a hurricane just before hitting Belize. But there were some shifts that took place that caught some Belizeans off-guard. Gradually, it appeared, the path of the storm was inching upward — farther from Dangriga and closer to Belize City — the coast, specifically. Some observers on Tuesday were speculating that this movement was placing Belize City and its coast possibly in the right front quadrant of the storm, which would be subjected to the strongest winds and storm surge. It has been noted that the strongest side of a hurricane, depending on the direction in which the storm is moving, is typically the right side — known as the “dirty side”, where there is a higher likelihood of storm surge and even tornadoes, and where more intense wind gusts and heavier rain bands are likely to occur.
And Belizeans who were monitoring the upward tilt in the storm’s movement, particularly on Tuesday evening of this week, saw Belize City being an increasingly shorter distance away from the area of landfall and also possibly being on the “dirty side”. Many Belizeans, however, had not been anticipating the storm to hit so close to the city. Something else that caught Belizeans off guard was the time of the landfall. Most Belizeans had read or heard that the storm would be hitting the country on Wednesday night — possibly at 8:00. The Prime Minister had declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, and Belizeans were told that only essential services would be allowed to operate and that buses would stop running at 10:00 a.m.
Many Belizeans were shocked, however, when very strong winds started pummeling the city early on Wednesday afternoon. At around 3:20 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, the storm made landfall about 10 miles from Belize City, according to the experts at the National Meteorological Services in Belize. Wind speeds of about 85 miles per hour began battering the country, with higher gusts of up to 95 miles per hour. Fortunately, so far it appears that no lives were lost as a result of this storm, but Belize City was severely impacted.
Residents in various parts of the city reported seeing lamp posts falling and water rising by several feet and entering a number of homes. Scores of roofs in various parts of the city were torn off, and by the end of the storm, there were downed trees, entangled electrical wires, and zinc roofs strewn over streets and in yards. It was also reported by some residents that a few houses in the city had collapsed, and some Belize City residents have remarked that the storm had seemed stronger than a Cat 1 hurricane.
Significant damage to the utility infrastructure was also recorded. Water services, which were interrupted on Wednesday afternoon, have reportedly been restored, but water pressure in certain parts of the country remains extremely low.
Notably, individual experiences during the storm varied. Andrew Bethran, whose mother’s home in the Port Loyola area, which was seen as a sort of historical landmark to the community before it collapsed during the storm, told AMANDALA, “This house from when I was a young boy, from when I was 3 years old to now, I am 48 years old and this house is here. So, God was holding it up. Nature came and nature took it down. It’s sad, because although it was an old house, people saw it as a home where they could come stay in and sleep and they won’t be getting wet and beat on, but now this is gone… It’s a loss, and I believe it’s not only me who went through this. You have a lot of people who went through this…. If the system could come and assist my old lady, it’ll be a privilege for me.. This was a landmark for the area. A lot of people know this house… This house was here since I was 3 years old — before the drain and sidewalk, all of those things got built, this house was here. This house is the second house to be on this boulevard.”
Marie Lewis, however, a Justice of the Peace, who experienced Hurricane Hattie in 1961, said that she and her husband slept through Lisa’s wrath.
“In 1961, I was on the road with two babies, and I went through an experience on Faber’s Road with 7 feet of water in my house. I had two kids, my mother was pregnant, my sister was pregnant, and the entire Rhamdas family in my home [and] when we looked, 7 feet of water was in the house. We prayed and the water went down. When I heard about Lisa and that it was coming east, I said this would be a lot of water because easterly winds bring a lot of high tides; and when I heard it coming to this side, I said it’s going down the south side, and we won’t get any water. But with Lisa, it gave me a little shake, but it wasn’t that bad. We expected more than that, the way they were talking about the mileage it was going. We saw a lot of houses falling. We saw the house across the street, their [roof] came off and my son and daughter’s houses [roof] fell up, but praise God, me and my husband still alive… I wasn’t scared of it because I went through ’61 and it wasn’t [the same]. ’61 was worse than this. My daughter wanted to take me to their house, and I said I am not leaving out from my house. [I] and my husband slept in our bed and we slept until this morning,” she said.
At this time, 278 persons remain in shelters across the country. Those persons staying at school shelters are expected to be relocated as soon as possible, to allow for the reopening of schools on Monday. NEMO and GoB personnel are reportedly working on the execution of this transfer.
The Prime Minister, John Briceno, in his remarks during a press conference held yesterday evening, called for the collective teamwork of all Belizeans to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of the country. He said that at this time, getting food and water to those affected, and the most vulnerable in our communities, is the primary task. The clean-up across the country will continue, with the Belize City Council announcing that the Cabinet was providing additional resources so that it can launch a 3-day cleanup campaign (which started today) that will reportedly involve a number of agencies and a total of approximately 500 personnel. Active partners in this cleanup campaign will include the Belize Waste Control, the Department of the Environment, the Belize Defense Force, Belize Fire Department, Belize Coast Guard, CISCO Construction, RJB Construction, Imer Hernandez Construction, Teichroeb & Sons Ltd., GEL Quarry Co. Ltd.,, the Orange Walk Town Council and other supporting municipalities, A&N Construction and Belize Roadway Construction Ltd. According to Mayor Bernard Wagner, the team will be split into zones to ensure that recovery work is done in all portions of the city. Briceno also noted at the press conference that 6 private contractors have offered their equipment free of cost to aid in the efforts. Civil servants and members of the security forces will also be involved in the effort.
Various portions of Belize City remain without electricity and are experiencing very low water pressure. The electricity is expected to be fully restored by Sunday, according to the PM. Until then, a curfew between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. will be in place across the Belize District — excluding Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker.
As mentioned, schools are to be reopened on Monday, and all government offices are expected to be reopened by then as well. At this time, Belize City remains the area of the country that is in most need of recovery efforts, according to the PM.
Notably, it is being reported that comparatively mild effects of the storm were felt in Dangriga, where Hurricane Lisa had been projected to make landfall.