Monday, October 31, 2022
An old timer in Belize, who passed away in the latter 1950s before Hurricane Hattie had devastated the then British Colony of British Honduras on October 31, 1961, and destroyed much of Belize City and Dangriga and everything between, he once expressed his belief that a major hurricane would hit our country every thirty years. His life experience had included the devastating 1931 hurricane, which didn’t have a name (they didn’t give hurricanes names then).
He wasn’t around when Category 5 Hurricane Hattie did hit us thirty years later, so his prediction seemed ominous when the 1990s came along. It didn’t happen, thank goodness, but we did experience the biggest hurricane scare of our lives when Category 5 Hurricane Mitch danced around us like a necklace in 1998. We were blessed.
According to en.wikipedia.org, the 1931 hurricane that hit British Honduras (before our name change to Belize in 1974) reached “Category 4 hurricane intensity on 10 September” when it “made landfall in Belize City with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 km/h)”… “killing an estimated 2,500 people.” When you consider that our country’s whole population was listed in 1931 at 51,347 (according to sib.org.bz), one can try to imagine the scale of the human disaster that our forebears experienced when 2,500 souls perished on that Tenth Day of September. Consejo.bz says of the 1931 hurricane that, “Although weaker than Hurricane Hattie of 1961, it remains the deadliest hurricane and natural disaster in British Honduras (Belize) history.”
There are no census records that we can locate from that period that describes the demographics of our population in those times, but it is generally accepted that Belize Town or City was the major population center from the early days of the settlement when the African descended slave population was by far the most numerous. sib.org.bz describes the breakdown by district in 1931 when the whole country’s population was 51,347 as follows: Corozal with 13.4%, Orange Walk at 11.5%, Belize District at 42.2%, Cayo at 11.1%, Stann Creek at 9.6%, and Toledo at 12.2% of the population.
According to consejo.org, whose information is from the USA’s National Hurricane Center’s archives, “Since 1930, there have been 16 Hurricanes, 8 of which were Major Hurricanes, that have either made landfall in Belize or passed close enough to cause damage or loss of life. Additionally, 17 systems made landfall in Belize as Tropical Storms.” There were storms that barely reached hurricane strength in 1933, 1942 and 1945 that made landfall in some part of the country. After 1953, the US began giving female names to tropical storms and hurricanes, and in 1955 a Category 5 Janet on September 27 “reduced Corozal Town into rubble with sustained winds (that) reached up to 175mph.” In July of both 1960 and 1961, Belize was affected by Hurricanes Abby and Anna, respectively, both with minimal hurricane strength at landfall. Then on October 31 of 1961 it was Category 5 Hurricane Hattie which “landed just south of Belize City with … sustained winds of 155mph with gusts to 200mph.” Hattie “killed more than 400 people …” “Almost half of Belize City was demolished” and “It was this hurricane that caused George Price, and his People’s United Party (PUP) to relocate the Capital City from Belize City to the safer location of Belmopan.” Stann Creek Town and all villages between Belize City and Stann Creek were also badly battered by Hattie.
There was Category 1 Hurricane Francelia in 1969, then in 1974 Category 2 Hurricane Fifi caused significant damage in southern Belize, while on September 18-19 of 1978, Category 2 Greta hit Belize City and affected areas down to Stann Creek. And there were a few tropical storms that did impact us with rains and flooding and gusty winds.
Notably, as if by a blessing following our country’s Independence, it is observed that from 1981 to 1997 “No Tropical Cyclones affected Belize …” Were we being given time as a new nation to get our house in order? It does seem so.
Ironically, it is exactly during that period that another type of hurricane began to devastate our young and fast growing population. The prophetic Said Musa declared that the advent of television in Belize would be like an invasion of “an army of ten thousand.” But he didn’t mention crack cocaine, and that has probably made an even greater difference in our society.
As a nation we were not counting our blessings properly during that grace period from hurricanes. True, the religious folks continued their yearly candle-light vigil, but other forces were at work in our communities, where the value of life and love began to fall on the scale, beside the lure of drugs and fast/easy money. Along with the advent of mass tourism and the temptations of “a pimper’s paradise,” our whole society fell under the spell of greed and lust and selfishness, from “the boardroom to the bases,” and soon a young man’s life had little value in the game of soldiers and gangs. Forget the love, family ties and neighbourliness, forget pride and principle and “good name;” for many it was now all about “the paper.”
But, “We kyahn blame di youth dem,” in this dog-eat-dog capitalist world of “free market” competition, when hunger burns in the dark faces of angry children in search of a dream, while they witness obscene wealth and extravagance on display by the fair success stories in a system that thrives on their own neglect and ignorance and frustration that breeds self-hatred and despair inside the simmering pot of 60% poverty.
Fight the hunger, Belize! We must do better. A piece of land is great, until we get sick and have to sell it to pay doctor bills from malnutrition and health care neglect.
Mitch just “feinted” us in 1998, but we still suffered side effects from flooding due to heavy rainfall in the region.
Hurricane Keith was down to a Category 2 by the time it savaged San Pedro, Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker on October 2 of 2000 and later moved across to the mainland near Belize City.
Tropical storm Chantal in August of 2001 almost reached hurricane strength, but nevertheless it lingered long enough to cause serious damage in Caye Caulker and San Pedro. Then on October 8 of that same year, the terrible Category 4 Hurricane Iris devastated Placencia and many agricultural areas in southern Belize when it made landfall on October 8, 2001, with 145mph winds and was “registered as the strongest hurricane of the 2001 Atlantic Hurricane Season.” “Losses in the agricultural industry were estimated at $74.5 million. 31 people were killed by the storm; 20 of those were people on a dive boat, M/V Wave Dancer, when it capsized at the dock in Big Creek and eight others were listed as missing.”
In 2007, Category 5 Hurricane Dean passed “25 miles north of the Belize/Mexico border,” but it nevertheless “caused extensive damage in northern Belize.” That same year, another Category 5, Hurricane Felix, coming from the south, was forecast to strike Belize, and was “near Belize City for several days before the storm decided to maintain its westward track and leave Belize untouched.” Give thanks!
In 2010, tropical storms Alex, Karl and Matthew all caused some flooding but did not impact us with hurricane winds. However, on October 24, Category 1 Hurricane Richard crushed “the picturesque village of Gales Point Manatee” and then went on a rampage “westward over open country to Belmopan, Roaring Creek, Camalote, Teakettle, Ontario and Unitedville, destroying village homes and tearing up the landscape.” Even “Belmopan … experienced a strong category 1 hurricane with winds between 80 and 90 miles per hour.”
Tropical Storm Harvey was “the only Tropical Cyclone of the 2011 season to make landfall in Belize,” but caused minor damage and flooding.
In 2012, Category 1 Hurricane Ernesto only caused “minor wind damage and some severe flooding from the nearly 8” of rain dropped by the storm” as it made landfall just South of Mahahual, Mexico or about 45 miles North East of Consejo, Belize.”
In 2013 there was only some flooding effects from Tropical Storm Barry, but from 2014 – 2016 “No Tropical Cyclones affected Belize.”
Our last direct impact from hurricane winds was in 2017 when 80mph Category 1 Hurricane Earl made “landfall on Belize on August 4… causing extensive damage; losses to agriculture exceeded US$100 million;” but thankfully, no loss of life in Belize.
There were no tropical cyclones affecting Belize in 2018, and since then we have had a few “pass close” incidents, including recently the effects from Hurricane Ian which passed south of Belize but caused major flooding in the southern and western districts.
Belize, we have much to be thankful for as a people. Despite the hard times and the poverty, there is much wealth in Belize, and as bad as things may be for some, and as bad as it may get in the months ahead with the global upheaval and rising prices, we can all lend a helping hand to better share the goodness that God has given to us in “this beautiful Jewel of ours.”
According to latest advisories, this one seems to be heading our way. Hold tight, Belize! We can make it if we stick together and share what we have in times of need. We must heed Jah/God’s warning and make a change in how we treat each other, and in our health care system, and our wages, so the pie is shared better so all can survive. And if it is His will that we must endure punishment this time, then we must pledge to bear the strain together, and keep the faith for a better tomorrow. Peace and love, Belize!