Floods Flashed Through Cayo/Benque

And zeroing in on the west, two years ago, Cayo suffered major flooding after Hurricanes Eta and Iota hit the Central American region. And this past weekend, it was almost like deja vu - so much so, that the residents were worried their homes and businesses would end up submerged.

Thankfully, this time around, it wasn't nearly as traumatic, but those in the low lying areas of Cayo still had to contend with rising and rushing flood waters.

Courtney Menzies travelled west today to find residents sweeping up the debris with a weary resignation. Here's that story.

As Hurricane Julia washed over Central American countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador, its rains drenched Belize as well. And though the country didn't take a direct hit, those rains were enough for the streets of Cayo's towns and villages to turn into rivers.

Earl Trapp, Mayor, San Ignacio/Santa Elena
"We were monitoring first thing yesterday morning, we came out again and we monitored the water levels but it was just below the low-lying bridge and within 2 hours from that, it was already moving all the way up beyond the bridge and moving much more than we had anticipated."

"Immediately we began to advise the market vendors that they need to begin packing and evacuate because it's anticipated that water levels will reach beyond the market area so it was good that everyone complied and they began packing up. By, I would say, 1 o'clock, water was already in the market area."

"NEMO's personnel were out working the different area, monitoring the water levels and closing off streets that were inundated, for example we had the, once the water level reaches below the low-lying bridge here, it means that the water level is already flowing over the low-lying bridge by Iguana Creek. Then we had another area by Cristo Rey, another bridge that was inundated, we had the entrance to Succotz that was inundated, the entrance to Benque and the bridge, or the creek, the culvert, at the end of Bullet Tree Village, the start of Santa Familia, that was inundated as well."

And further west, it only got worse. Water rushed into homes in villages like San Jose Succotz, Bullet Tree Falls, and in Benque Viejo Town. The rising flood waters forced the residents to act quick to protect their belongings, and hope that they wouldn't need rescuing. And the water's current dragged debris into their yards and fences.

It was a frightening experience for these village and town residents, but in the end, no lives were lost, and most of them spent today cleaning out their businesses and homes.

Kenneth Arth, Tour Operator, San Jose Succotz
"Yesterday afternoon it came up to the bottom of the foundation here and then about two hours later it just started coming right into the office but I managed to get everything out of here and overnight, everything went down again but I noticed this afternoon that it's coming back up and it's up about six inches now. So I'm not moving anything back in yet till perhaps tomorrow because I think all the water is coming from Guatemala."

Courtney Menzies:
"But you didn't sustain any major damages to any of your equipment?"

Kenneth Arth, Tour Operator, San Jose Succotz
"No, I had about six inches of water in my office but I managed to get everything out before the water got into the office but it came up very fast this time."

Courtney Menzies:
"And when you hear of storms coming do you anticipate floods all the time?"

Kenneth Arth, Tour Operator, San Jose Succotz
"I do now, I've been through, this would be my third one, so I do anticipate it and I heed it, in other words, I start moving my things out."

Shamira Usher, Resident, Benque
"When the flood started to come into my house, I was frightened because I thought we would have to call NEMO again like last year, because last year as worse, but now, it calmed down after a while because they had already cleaned up the dam, so it went down fast. Last year, it was a lot of mosquitos and everything like, we had to suffer a lot. And this year, well, at least God blessed us because it gone fast, the water, and there were no mosquitos and so."

"I was trying to save myself, because it's a big loss, you know, TV and everything, we had to put it up on a high level because if we put it like there, it would have been messed up, we had to take out everything, fix it."

Courtney Menzies:
"What are some of the stuff that got damaged?"

Shamira Usher, Resident, Benque
"Our clothes, everything, our clothes, machines, things that we use."

Courtney Menzies:
"Like your washing machine?"

Shamira Usher, Resident, Benque
"Yes… TV's. Today we're trying to clean and trying to find back our stuff because it's a big loss."

Anibal Gomez, Resident, Benque
"Yesterday what I saw was that the water was going very high, and quick, in minutes the water started to get into my yard so I was very afraid because we have to remove things, our stuff from in the house to the other house and I was very afraid of that."

"Yesterday was very serious, the water was going fast."

Courtney Menzies:
"So that was the first time you saw flood waters like that?"

Anibal Gomez, Resident, Benque
"No, this is the third time, but this time it was going faster, more flood, the water is going higher."

Miguel Martinez, Resident, Benque
"Today we decided to cook some food for them and we cannot give to everywhere but at least a two or three per residence."

Courtney Menzies:
"And the amount of flood you saw yesterday, is that something you normally see?"

Miguel Martinez, Resident, Benque
"No, not really. Honestly, no."

Courtney Menzies:
"And when you saw that car underwater, what went through your mind?"

Miguel Martinez, Resident, Benque
"Well, we tried to call the owner but to no avail because the owner is supposed to be working in Belize City."

But by this morning, the flood waters in the west had mostly receded, though the rivers still remained high - halfway up trees near the bank - and rushing with deadly speeds - keeping residents wary but ready.

Julia: A Cat One Storm, But A Cat 5 Headache For Central America

So, from those snapshots of flooding in Cayo to the freak storm that hit Lake I in Belize City, we take you now to fly-over synopsis of Hurricane Julia's impacts on Central America: from its landfall in Nicaragua to the formation of a differently named storm from its remnants.

We got that report 90 minutes ago from the Chief Meteorologist, Ronald Gordon:

Ronald Gordon - Chief Meteorologist
"The system moved in a general westward track as was forecasted and eventually became a category one hurricane, with winds of 85 miles per hour, making landfall on the coast of Nicaragua early on Sunday morning. After landfall, the system moved on a more westerly track than was expected initially, rather than west-northwestward, and continued impacting Nicaragua, but moving more on a truck that prevented it from moving over the mountains - so to speak - and dissipating. So, it survived the trip across Nicaragua and emerged into the eastern Pacific as a tropical storm, eventually recurving, and making landfall on Guatemala, and dissipating on Monday afternoon. More relevant to us, as we had expected, the outer bands of this system produce torrential rainfall over the weekend. We saw the rainfalls increasing ahead of the system with a moist northeasterly airflow from as early as Friday into Saturday. And then, the heavier stuff came down on Sunday when the system when the outer bands began affecting Belize. So certainly, we had impacts on the system in terms of gusty winds, torrential rainfall, as we expected, and then there was also the huge battering waves that affected portions of Monkey River, I believe - well, other parts of the country, as well as coastal areas of the country. So that basically summarizes the meteorological impacts from Julia, and mostly from the older bands of the system, as we mentioned previously. The system currently is dissipated, but a part of its remnants went across the Yucatan and emerged into the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico and was declared Tropical Storm Karl this afternoon. It is moving away from us to the northwest but will recurve a bit, and then move a bit southward into Mexico, and dissipate over Mexico. With the system moving away or the remnants having moved away, weather conditions have improved significantly, as we see today."

The Chief Met Officer then discussed the many inches of rain that fell all over Belize. Here's that part of his report:

Ronald Gordon - Chief Meteorologist
"On Sunday, we had rainfall totals of almost six inches in the Placencia area and also in other parts of the country. In Middlesex, we had about eight inches of rainfall. Eventually, on Monday, the remnants moved farther west and affected the western parts of the country, San Ignacio/Santa Elena, where we saw upwards of three inches of rainfall in a very short period of time, producing the flooding event that we saw in that area."

Dramatic Rescue on Flooded Coastal Road

Hurricane Julia made landfall as a Category 1 Storm early Sunday in Nicaragua. And, as so many communities across Central America have learned, the storm's major damage was not so much with wind, but with rain. Southern Belize got the most of it: On Sunday, Placencia recorded 6 inches of rainfall, while Middlesex recorded 8. And then on Monday, the remnants of Julia moved west and dumped rains on the Cayo District, where 3 inches of rainfall came down in a hurry - and caused flash floods out west.

Now, those waters are rushing down towards Central Belize - and that's where a flooding Sibun river created the most dramatic scene so far - it happened today on the Coastal Road. Jules Vasquez has that story and an overview of some of the more dramatic scenes coming out of the dangerously wet weekend:

Strong currents coursing across the Coastal Highway washed this cargo truck off the road this morning - forcing the driver to seek higher ground on top of the truck.

And when it keeled over, this is the daring rescue that had to be executed across raging waters:

Rescuer
"Hold on good old byway... you got it? alright, tie it pon di vehicle. You just make sure you hold the belt good with your two hands."

A miracle rescue on a new road that is being pressed and worried by rushing waters - already the fresh pavement is being eroded - as witnessed by Will Maheia.

Wil Maheia
"And here are. Again you can see the side of the culvert and the road that was just paved maybe a few weeks or months ago, already is eating out. But this has to do with the small culverts. I don't know who were the engineers. I'm not an engineer, I must say, but it just seems like the culvert here is so small and its causing this massive break up of this new highway that has hardly been use."

Indeed, the Coastal culverts are under pressure, the waters gnawing at the pavement - but that has to do with the level of the floodwaters - the road was raised and the culverts are high, but the hydraulic pressure of all that water just cannot fit through the culvert.

And that's the case almost everywhere. In Monkey River this abandoned house pushed off its foundation was captured on Sunday, the raging sea and angry waves lapping up its demise. And while that is the coast, inland in the Cayo district the towns were brown, entire SUV's swallowed by fast rising flood waters as the Mopan and Macal burst their banks.

And while the scene may look romantic, water rarely gets this close to the Hawkesworth deck - although in Hurricane Eta it was higher.

Indeed, nature's great force can go from grotesque to strangely picturesque in just a few hundred feet.

And wide, turbid rivers rolling to the sea - while fearsome up close have a certain lyrical quality from above - reminding us powerfully of the restlessness of water.

A regards the events on the Coastal Road, an MIDH engineer told us, first, that the driver of that cargo truck missed the road, which is how he got stuck at the edge of the embankment and eventually toppled. And, regarding the culverts - the engineer says that's not the problem. He says area is now very flood prone because a berm was built to keep the tapirs and jaguars off the road, but it's also keeping the floodwater from running off.

Floodwaters Coming To Belize District

As we saw, the Cayo District was the most affected by flash floods, but as viewers are aware, all those flood waters will eventually make its way to the Belize District to the usual flood catchment areas.

Here's the NEMO Coordinator's warning of eventual flooding that will most likely affect the Belize River Valley, and other flood-prone areas of the Belize District:

Colonel Shelton Defour - NEMO Coordinator
"We are bracing for potentially a significant flood event in the Belize River Valley area, the water is cresting in the Belize River in the Cayo District. It's moving downhill at a rapid paste and so with the inundation where the ground was already saturated in those areas due to pooling and accumulation of water. It means now that you have this second wave of flood waters that will reach into places like Crooked Tree. They are already experiencing flooding; a family is being affected and so far, they have decided not to move as yet. We have advised them to move and so we'll see other communities like Lemonal which will be impacted and all the string of communities in the river valley. So we are warning people to take heed, listen to the advisory. Another advisory will be coming out this evening giving some specifics as to what people ought to be doing - move to safety, move your animals. The ministry of agriculture in the national emergency center meeting this morning is working with farmers in BelRiv and the Crooked Tree area so that they could move out whatever crops, livestock etc to a safe area, because we know that's the flood event that they are now seeing starting could get worse. As far as perhaps Lord's Bank and parts of Ladyville. The water is coming down the Sibun River in the Belize District. There is flooding at this point in the coastal road, we could see the water moving from the high ground into the lower reaches into these catchment areas, so flooding will take place more than likely in those communities and the Belize River Valley."

The NEMO Coordinator is also concerned that Belizeans aren't following their safety advisories, specifically about attempting to traverse through flood waters affecting the different parts of the country. He made the point that whenever a citizen becomes distressed, such as that driver on the Coastal Road, rescue personnel are then forced to risk their lives:

Colonel Shelton Defour - NEMO Coordinator
"You mentioned about people going against the advice of NEMO and we have a responsibility to keep the public informed and to advise them accordingly. It is the individuals or individuals who have to adhered to those advice and not to take the risk and believe that they could take the chance of going through flood waters either walking through it or driving through it, because you're putting your life and your equipment at risk. We saw in Trinidad recently a lady from this very same system try to cross a ditch and got sweep away and I don't think they have recovered her body as yet, so its very serious and you put the search and rescue team at risk, because they have to go out sometimes at night and they have families as well and so when people are not taking the advisory serious, it has a severe impact on the decision making that we have to make; do we take the chance or not. So, we implore the public to take the advisories. Don't play in flood waters. The ministry of health is concerned about dermatitis and about gastro-intestinal illness which is in the increase due to contaminated water. They are seeing ecoli in some of the tests they are running. So the secondary impact is also of major concern."

Floods Damaged Crops

The Ministry responsible for Disaster Risk Management and the Ministry of Agriculture are already anticipating major financial losses to farmers in the parts of the country that was most affected by the flash flood.

Here's what Minister Habet had to say about the major spoilage of crops that were either already matured, or in the process of harvesting - but which are now underwater:

Orlando Habet - Minister of Disaster Risk Management
"A lot of the production for agricultural food items in the Spanish Lookout/Cayo area was affected, especially soybeans, black beans, red beans, and also corn. And some of these were already - the process for harvesting had already commenced. So when it rains came and the flooding increases, some of these went underwater. Some of them are still underwater. So, maybe there'll be a certain percentage that will still be able to be harvested. However, spoilage commences very quickly because they're now soaked up in floodwater. They will have to be put through a drying process, which is also expensive. But also, the cost of harvesting increases because the machinery, the combine, which normally does the harvesting for corn and beans, will not be able to pick them up off the ground. So, if they want to really get some of that product that's now in the ground, it will involve manual harvesting, which is very expensive and very inefficient. Many times, the water soaks into the seeds, and they start germinating even before you are able to harvest them. So, there would be significant losses, but as the Colonel mentioned, we would be able to do an estimate after the waters recede. However, the Minister of Agriculture has already deployed his teams from the Agriculture Department to start doing assessments where the water has commenced to recede, and they can start to do some of those assessments."

Relief For Flood Victims

So, what about relief efforts for the victims of this natural disaster? Minister Orlando Habet spoke about relief efforts:

Orlando Habet - Minister of Disaster Risk Management
"Today in Cabinet, we submitted a preliminary report, which was prepared by the team. Cabinet is prepared to support us as much as possible. We have a contingency fund that we have available to source the funding to get the de-reservation, and to buy the materials and supplies. As we know it right now, those who are in shelters will need food, but when the cleanup starts, that would be cleaning supplies that we need, and other materials have to come into play. Certainly, we will be looking at a lot of damage to infrastructure. And just about a few months ago, we know that we had severe damage to infrastructure, roads, a few bridges, and culverts that were destroyed. And once again, we will go through that. We will be getting support from the government, but we will also be looking at the total assessment. And based on that assessment, perhaps we can also seek some assistance from some foreign entities."

Daniel Ortiz
"What sort of relief efforts can be provided to the victims who suffer the most in the natural disaster? Some of them are starting to consider, okay, so, how do I go about rebuilding what I lost?"

Orlando Habet
"When we look at Like homes and materials from within the home are a lot more personal to them, and it's difficult. The government doesn't have a set system in place for that kind of assistance. But we have a Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, which will also be looking at that, making some assessments. Some assistance will be able to be provided for those people who lost a home or - possibly, like in a case in Santa Familia, where one house was just moved away because of a little landslide. It's in my constituency. So, certainly, we will be able to help. Some of them were roofs that were blown off in Belize City, sort of what people characterize as a mini tornado. So, some assistance will be able to be given in that situation. For the agriculture sector, it's definitely something that has to be looked at. The government can never provide all of it. Many times, if there is assistance for small farmers in trying to assist them with seed material, fertilizers, and also to do, maybe - through the Ministry of Agriculture to assist them with plowing and preparing their lands again for replanting - that kind of assistance would be provided."

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