AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Weather Tropical Storms & Hurricanes Remembering Hurricane Mitch

A group of us were reminiscing this Tuesday morning about our experiences with Hurricane Mitch in 1998 (probably late October). One of the group said that Carlos Fuller, Belize's chief meteorologist at the time, had not been exaggerating about Mitch, because Mitch did some absolutely devastating damage to Honduras, and I believe parts of Guatemala and Nicaragua got their share, so to speak.

Belize escaped with not a scratch physically, but there had been days of fear which reached near panic, if not outright panic, in many cases that Tuesday morning when Mitch's ominous eye, with Category 5 velocity and storm surge, stared straight at Belize.

The thing about Mitch was that this was the first monster hurricane when everybody here had cable television and when we Belizeans could see what was in store for us, with the same Mitch feature stories being repeated every 20 or 25 minutes on the Weather Channel. (What we mean by the last part of the previous sentence is that a storm doesn't move or change that much in a half hour's time, so we were watching almost the same alarming thing over and over.) We Belizeans sat in front of the "boob tube" as if we were mesmerized. The Mitch eye became better and better formed, until it was like a perfect circle. This was a real devil of a storm, and we could see it build and build until everyone began bolting west the Tuesday morning.

To be truthful, I had viewed Mr. Fuller as somewhat melodramatic. I could see the storm was very serious (who couldn't?), but Hattie was as bad as they come, and Belize survived. I had my hurricane plan in place. I knew my Buttonwood Bay wooden home (floating foundation) was not safe. I would move to a friend's home a couple blocks away which I believed could withstand any such hurricane.

But, a really weird and scary thing happened, and it happened like last minute. I think, in retrospect, my wife was trying to save too many of her precious household possessions, and when she started sending things over to my friend's home, my friend's son and my courier daughter got to exchanging words. Something went wrong. My friend was not around, and my personality is such that all I said to myself was, son, you better find somewhere else fast. This would have been around 8:30 that exodus Tuesday morning, that "run west" Tuesday morning when Mitch was terrifying Belize.

I said wife, you better ask Marcelina if we can sleep on her floor. Mrs. Marceline Castillo Cowo, now deceased, was one of my wife's relatives who lived in Santa Elena, the twin town to San Ignacio in El Cayo. Marcelina said, no problem.

I think I must have packed sixteen or seventeen garbage bags of clothes and household effects in the back of the single cab F-150 Ford truck I was driving at the time. The F-150 had a radiator problem which was troubling, but had not been a major concern of mine. Still, the length of time it took me to reach the beginning of the Western Highway by Lord's Ridge from my home on Seashore Drive in Buttonwood Bay, the traffic being so crazy, got me to thinking about my friend, the radiator. The Western Highway was totally bumper-to-bumper when I reached there, I would say at 9:45 the Tuesday morning.

Traffic was moving around 15 to 18 miles an hour. It took quite a bit more than twice as long to reach Belmopan as it normally does. If you had a flat or any kind of vehicle problem, you were on your own. A kind of glassy-eyed fear had set in amongst us fleeing Belizeans. And I had a suspect radiator. But, beloved, the Most High was kind: I reached Belmopan safely sometime after noon, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The road to San Ignacio/Santa Elena was less congested, so I could drive faster, with less pressure on my radiator.

It was just me and my wife in the F-150. My youngest daughter, was in the care of Indira Craig, mother to Mose's older daughter. They went to Belmopan, as did my oldest daughter, who was married at the time. My second youngest daughter was in college in Tampa, Florida, during the Mitch drama.

Now when it comes to Mose himself, over the years he has kept telling everyone who will listen, a story about my swearing to stay in Belize City and then running to Cayo last minute. But, I could not possibly have foreseen the rancor between my friend's son and my daughter, plus, when I decided to split, I was leaving Mose and Michael, my youngest son, in a veritable hurricane shelter - Kremandala's three-storey ferro-concrete building on Partridge Street.

There had been a major sabotage attack on the KREM Radio broadcast tower on the said Partridge in February of 1998, eight months earlier, and we had no confidence in our tower's ability (it was 190 feet high at the time) to withstand Mitch. We are in a residential area, so we decided to dismantle our tower. Rene Villanueva and Love FM made a big name for themselves during Mitch, because a damaged KREM was missing in action.

Anyway, when my wife and I reached San Ignacio/Santa Elena going for 1:30 the afternoon, we decided to drive to Cahal Pech and see if Dan Silva had any space. He did, in a new construction on the top floor, but warned that if the hurricane came we would have to come downstairs. The room was a godsend, compared to sleeping on Marcelina's floor, but after settling in we drove over the Hawkesworth to Santa Elena to tell her thanks for the offer anyway.

We left Marcelina's around 3:30 the afternoon to return to Cahal Pech, but one of Marcelina's relatives asked us to drop him home across the bridge in San Ignacio. Well, the kindness led to big time stress.

When you are leaving San Ignacio, at the front of the Cahal Pech hill, headed west to the outskirts of San Ignacio and to Benque Viejo, there is a large gas station on your left. A quarter mile or more out of San Ignacio on the right side of the road, there are a lot of dwelling houses, but you have to descend steeply, into a kind of gully. This was where our passenger lived. The F-150 did not have four-wheel drive, and the gully road was slippery. I could not climb back up to the highway. If you remember Mitch, it started getting dark from around 4 that Tuesday afternoon.

Mose disagrees vehemently with me, but to the best of my recollection, Mitch started moving away from Belize and south to Honduras between 1:30 and 2:00 the afternoon. In other words, by the time my wife and I got stuck in that gully with dark setting in along with a drizzle, we were safe from Mitch but did not know it. Nevertheless, a personal drama began in that dark gully because I had to leave Mrs. Hyde alone in the truck and head back to Cahal Pech to get help. But, that would be another story for another time.

I think Keith came after Mitch, and then Iris threatened us around 2001, if I remember correctly. By the time of Iris, running to Dan Silva's Cahal Pech had become a routine for me and Mrs. Hyde when hurricane time. Well, a crack addict who used to deliver butane gas to our home, picked up on our movements. He recruited a guy just out of jail and by the early evening of Iris he had broken into our home while we were at Cahal Pech. He and his accomplice hustled a truck after their first trip with our household effects, and were coming back to empty our home when a neighbor tipped off Mose, who was covering the hurricane that time at KREM Radio. That was my Iris stats. Needless to say, another story for another time.

In conclusion, I would remark on how speedily we hurricane-vulnerable Belizeans recover from our fear and panic once we get the sense that everything is clear. If you've left your home, you see, you have to rush back as fast as you can to protect same. This is probably the main reason why some Belizeans take long to run for shelter. There are predatory Belizeans (not Ashcroft) who make their own hurricane plans: these are those who pray for big storms. For real.

Amandala

---

For more on Hurricane Mitch, and its affect on Belize and Ambergris Caye, click here.

It is funny how people all have different recollections of the same events.

For me Hurricane Mitch was the first storm that heavily impacted my sense of peace - although I had lived in Belize full time since 1981, Mitch was the first serious tropical weather event that I saw - as luck would have it, my family had a holiday planned during the time that Mitch threatened so we already had international plane tickets and hotel reservations in hand when Mitch began to loom. The night before our scheduled departure we called Tropic Air to confirm reservations, all was good. Everyone was a little on edge, having not seen a major storm so close in recent history. We stayed up and watched the weather channel for most of the night. The next day instead of waiting for our 11am Tropic Air departure we decided to go to town from San Pablo to gauge the situation. And, WOW. A little after 7am the airport, water taxis etc were in absolute pandemonium. Thousands and thousands of people with their belongings (bedding, 5 gallon jugs of water, portable stoves) pets, children etc were lined up at every confirmed port of exit. The sea was full of skiffs darting each and every way. Getting into Tropic Air's terminal was not going to happen. Fortunately for us we had a friend on the mainland that was a crop duster. We called him, apprised him of the situation in San Pedro as the mainland was apparently unaware of the mounting panic that was occurring on Ambergris Caye. He fueled up, flew to San Pedro and picked up our family and took us to the International Airport. He then returned to the Caye. I do not know how many flights he made that day to remove people from the island. As the hours went by at the international airport the terminal began to fill to overflowing capacity. We met a number of islanders who were leaving the country in advance of Hurricane Mitch. Many had family members that were intending to run skiffs from the island until either their fuel was exhausted or the weather conditions became unsafe. All told, approximately 11,000 people were evacuated by air and sea in advance of Mitch. Everyone of those people will have a story of hardship in some manner or the other. Many stayed behind on the island to guard their homes or they simply couldn't find safe passage, did not have money to leave or a place to stay if they did leave. As I begin to think more about this it brings back so many emotional memories. We did not know if our island home would be hit. If there would be a house to return to. If we would have jobs and income in the immediate future. It was very stressful. The seas inside the reef increased waves to over 6ft - which to anyone that knows this area, that is extremely high water. Outside the reef the waves were cresting at about 40ft high. Essentially every single pier on the east coast of Ambergris Caye was destroyed, together with the dive shops, restaurants, bars etc. The sea pushed its way across much of the island. The immense amount of coral debris from the reef being churned up was found hundreds of feet inshore from the coastline. So although we were considered to be unscathed, our first experience in recent history with a hurricane was still pretty traumatic, costly and impacted the social and financial areas of the islanders due to loss of infrastructure. Within a few short months we had managed to pick ourselves back up and were running at full tilt, albeit our blasé attitudes about storms was shattered and our appreciation of the extreme devastation that the storms cause was now impressed upon us. Hurricane Mitch claimed 11,000 lives in Honduras alone. Displaced people from Honduras came to Belize in droves, markedly changing our social and cultural communities - some for the richer in terms of bringing hard workers, great food and culture and some for the detriment- extremely poor people who have been exploited in the human trafficking sex slave trade. For my family, being out of the country during the major storm threat was perhaps worse than being on the island. We scoured news sources, tried calling and emailing friends to no avail. Our holiday was not the vacation we had planned. Not knowing if Mitch would wipe out our livelihoods we decided to change our plans and have a budget trip so that our savings would be available if we were to return to the island and perhaps have no home and no jobs. Thankfully the storm did not "hit" Belize - but there is no way we can say that it did not cause damage nor that it did not impact our lives.

When I have time I will tell you about how Keith and Iris impacted San Pedro and San Pedranos.

I remember all 3, Mitch especially

Moises Cal Garcia
Divine intervention... all experts predicted Belize will be devastated... we were spared... we are blessed...

Batab Masewal Chuc
I was a kid and I spend like 3 days in a hurricane shelter along with other villagers , was fun and scary because as a kid I didn't understood the magnitude eof the problem . People who enter the shelter brought tv ,beds,stoove and some even brought cats,Dogs etc no kind of organizAtion or discipline or authority... Some actually recreated a living room at their space ... My dad only brought a small mattress ,one bag of cloths and another one of food ... later ...while we all watch tv and hear the radio about what was happening about Mitch ... They left two poor soldiers to guard ...with no food for them ... Just their gun . The people gave the soldiers food . But during hard times is when people open their hearts and support each other

Adrian James
I was working at the power station out in san pedro at the time... it was rough because almost everyone else evacuated and we had to stay there 24/7 with barely any sleep for days making sure the station was operational.

Deborah Vernon
Evacuating Placencia to live on a crowded cement floor in a school in Belmopan - 4 days with a 4 month old infant. Ya, not fun.

Jadene Bevans
First experience I could recall. Our house was on foreshore before they built the sea wall. Was scary hearing all the thunder, lightning. Trees broke in the streets. When we went back home, half of our roof was gone even though it was changed before the hurricane. We lived right at foreshore before they built the sea wall. Our roof was gone and part of the tree fell in the house.

Fern Wandia Newe
No classes for couple days and the rain, then the flood and then leeches... we live by the savannah so had flood for weeks.

Graeme Finlayson
Here's something I was sent by friends right after (names edited to protect the not so innocent and beware of the language!).

--------------------------------------

Dear Boyz.

Weh di go-aan. Last week me and Kevin had the worst experience of our lives (so far). Here goes.

After the hurricane I went down with Steve to have a look at the place (Placencia and Sein Bight are totally f**ked up by the way.) So we were cleaning Kevin's yard all f**kin day as they had us toiling under the sun non stop. After that We had to go help this old man get his refridgerater which he found near the lake (he lives by the beach) don't ask how it got there. It was now about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. and MR.Kevin with the smart plan decided for us to take a quick run in the boat before the sun goes down and see if we could catch any fish for dinner.

We had BIG PLANS to bash the night as we worked hard all day

Well, f**kin Kevin decided to use some gasoline which he found after the hurricane. (You see Kevin was one of the 1st looters after the hurricane- don't ask how much bottles of rum he was braggin about when i first arrived at his place. The day after the hurricane Kevin was the 1st one there scoping out the place and since nothing happened to his house he was scoping out other people's property.

So where was I......Yes Kevin found some gas and decided to use it for the quick run. What Kevin didn't realize was that this f**kin stolen gas had weathered the hurricane and water had seeped inside the container.

Being so late in the afternoon we just dashed for the engine, gas, fishin lines and went to false caye (that caye where we go fishing) Steven was with us too. Then the fun began.

As we got to false caye the engine broke down, not to mention that we caught didly squat. We tried every thing in the book to start the engine, we cut the hoses cuz we thought it was a hose.. we tried everything, ev- ery- f**k -in- thing. We saw clearly that the sun was going down now and almost no sunlight was left. We didnt have water, no paddles, no nothing beacuse of the rush we were in. We were literally up shit creek w/ no paddles. Imagine the panic. WE HAD TO GET REAL INNOVATIVE SO WHAT WE DID WAS THROW THE ANCHOR AS FAR OUT AS WE COULD AND then let it sink and pull ourselves to that spot and repeat and repeat the f**kin process.

My arms were killing me the next day. Not to mention that I nearly took out Kevin on a

swing of the anchor when throwing it on one occassion. So everyone would stand back when someone would throw. So we arrived to false caye.not even an island just a

mangrove patch.

Hour after f**kin hour past and no sign of help. We kept sayin that soon someone or some boat would pass and that we still had time to taste up when we get home. Not f**kin so. We kept lighting stuff to send signals but to no avail. First steven lit his hat then me and Kevin had to light our shirts. (We had a lighter which we usually carry for the ssensi but ssshhhh on that one.)

It was now at least twelve and we kapt watching the whole night go by in this 10 foot boat. Our eyes felt like they had in sand cuz we couldnt sleep and we were so f**kin tired. We tried to fall asleep but that was useless. The boat was so small that any position we tried to get in to sleep in was excruciating. By the time the night was over each one of us had been all over the f**kin boat to try to fall asleep. Impossible.

(The next day we felt like we had to go see a chiropractor or something.) It was about one oclock a.m. when the worst hit us. Remember that we had already used our shirts to burn and being at sea (at night) alone is chilly especially w/ out a shirt. Well things got worst bouy as it started raining..

BBouuuyyyy!!! We almost had to jump in the sea as the sea water was probably warmer , we were shivering and huddling to stay warm. I have to say it was f**kin cold. Kevin kept sayin that he wouldn't wish this on noone and really I have to second that cuz it was a living hell. Steven was the one holding the rope on to a tree limb and since he couldn't fall asleep he prevented me and Kevin from doing so too. Every f**kin minute: "Bouy Andrew, raja uno di sleep." One spell Andrew had to say: f**k mista man how ah wah sleep if you keep the ask mi that every minute!@#$ Then there were times that Kevin would jump up as he thought he saw a big fish or a big splash by his end of the boat. (Kevin had this little flashlight a key chain.

Kevin has to be the funniest character on earth. Can you belive that he would flash this tenee light towards land thinking any one would see it when we were like three miles away from land. I kept telling him he was wasting his time. Then when me and steven tried to use it for other stuff Kevin would rail up sayin that we were wasting the batery haha. We were so shiprecked and disillusioned that some of us even started hearing shit. We couldn't see anything cuz the night was pitch black. Kevin said he heard whistling and wha hole aada pile a mada raas. We thanked the lord Jesus when we saw the crack of dawn at 5 am.we had gone from dusk till dawn like George clooney , yeh? As we had enough light to let go the rope from the tree we did so and let the current bring us to shore. It took three hours for the waves to bring us in and that is because we had to help the f**kin boat.

what we would do was swim like 75 feet in front of the boat with the anchor rope and pull as hard as we could to give the boat a little tug. we tried everything. Me and Kevin even tried swimmng at the back of the boat pushing it but that didn't work. It didn't work cuz f**kin steven was too afraid to get into the water so me and Kevin had to push the boat with steven in it.

Three hours later, no dinner , no water no breakfast we were knocked OUt. The boat landed on maya beach three miles before Kevins house.

We had to go get a pick-up, lift the boat, put it in a pick up and drive it to adams house. Not to mention too that when we got to Kevins house about 10 am ms lita was railing up. Cabrones, cabrones!! We just stood shut. Who send uno da caye deh houwas. Uno no even bring any fish. You mista Andrew....#@%$!

The whole reason we didnt' wash ashore that night is beacuse we couldn't see land and Kevin formulated that the sea could have washed us all the way down to

monkey river or something.....

That's the latest, as you can see we are still keepin it real.

Stay in touch fellas


Flood in San Ignacio, Cayo Dist.

Marviani Guerrero
We stayed in the school in San pedro . We lost our entire house. I was 5 years old and i remember clearly everything.

Eugene Trench
I remember Mitch too well I remember was in Burrel Boom at a function the Sunday evening when someone mention if we know a storm heading our way . That evening haven't seen people disappear so quick went home and view on the weather channel first time I went to Belmopan fir a Hurricane. gladly it took that curve and went into Honduras

Ronald Martinez
Eavryone evacuated punta gorda and they went to Big Falls...;hurricane Mitch went arount missed punta gorda,and hit big falls headon people ho evacuated with all their belongins lost it all...The people ho stayed home sey they just felt some rain. 1998

Policarpio Soberanis
Although I was not in Belize when Mitch the B&$#h hit it was one of the most devastating times for our family emotionally. My family back home was moved to a hurricane shelter and this led to my mom, Juliet Soberanis, getting pneumonia. Shortly after, she passed. I remember frantically trying to get a ticket to come home for a funeral. I remember getting upset at the woman behind the desk at the airport because flights were being cancelled and I was being told that I would not make it home for my mom's funeral. I remember landing at the airport, dressed for the funeral and having my two best friends meeting me outside ready to drive me to the church. I remember arriving at the church and feeling overwhelmed with grief. I remember sitting at the grave site with my little sister uncontrollably bawling. I remember looking out at the many people that attended the funeral, many I did not know, but they knew my mom and they were all touched by the person that she was.

I remember coming back to school and all my grades had slipped. I remember struggling with faith and talking to the priests at my school to try and understand it all. Through all those struggles, I remembered that my mom's wish was to see me graduate and so I made sure I completed that journey, not just for me but for her as well.

Tiffara M. Molina JP
I was about 12 years old. My two younger siblings stayed at princess with my uncle who worked security there. Me, mom my older brother and his friend rode out the storm at home. Lots of rain and wind, we were trapped in the house for several days and I remember food being very limited because we only had a few days supply. Didn't expect Mitch to linger so long. But while almost everything ran out this 1 pack of hotdogs sausage refuse to finish. That was the only food that lasted us throughout the entire ordeal. RIP to the victims in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala while not one Belizean succumbed.

Aaron Anderson
We went to our family hurricane hideout late the evening before it turned south. Expecting the absolute worst, I prepped to go to sleep early with my 11 month old son and wife. One point during the night, water was coming from u set the door due to the strength of the rain. We were in Stann Creek Valley. It was definitely a warning of what to come, until it didn't come. On the island where we go for holidays, most of the houses were knocked off their posts. A ton of damage out there but thanks to God, BELIZE was missed.

Karen Furness
I was working at the Leo Bradley Library at the time (as a VSO). On its approach, the staff all pulled together to protect the library stock as best they could. They worked for hours, then went off to man the hurricane shelters. They worked so, so hard; I felt so privileged to have them as colleagues. We VSOs were ordered to Belmopan, where 13 of us spent 3 days in the Field Director's house. That was fun, there was even someone sleeping in the toilet! What we learned from it was to co-ordinate our Hurricane Preparedness supplies better next time; as it turned out, everyone had had the same thought, and we ended up with having slightly more alcohol than actual food...

Emil Pulido
It was surreal; visiting a shelter in Belmopan and the image remains of seeing a father leading his small family in prayer over their evening meal; meeting a desperate a man who lived on the coast driving around Belmopan with his family seeking shelter as all shelters in Bmp were by now full, and people were being advised to go to Cayo (Santa Elena- Novelos Convention Center) - there were no more shelter spaces in Belmopan; then, hunkering down & bravely bracing for the worst; then, experiencing an anomaly, or a miracle, that of a powerful and destructive hurricane that parked right in front of us/Belize, damaging piers in San Pedro, and to have it go down south, beneath us and behind us; we are and have been blessed.

Brian Keating
Wasn't that the storm that Fantome was lost in and dive boat capsized?

Marty Casado
Yes.
Fantome: https://amazon.com/Ship-Storm-Hurricane.../dp/B000FA5M0S/ .
Wave Dancer: https://www.global-travel.co.uk/wavedancer.htm .
It was heading for San Pedro then about 300 miles out it turned straight south.

Daren Swasey
Many stories! Belize at the time did not have a well organized emergency Disaster response network like we now do, except for the Belize Red Cross network. Belmopan's population swelled from 15000 to approx 75000 over those 9 days until the all clear was given. All villages, inland around the country were filled with evacuees. I drove to Belize City the second day to pick up some family and there was a long line of vehicles bumper to bumper all the way from Belize city to Belmopan. Incredible! My Uncle in San Pedro had his family on the rooftop of a two story building until they could be evacuated. While the storm didn't hit us directly, the torrential and continuous rains flooded most of the country in ways never before seen.

In Belmopan, residents took in family and strangers alike, the main ring road turned into a one way street, all the streets were congested, shelves in the stores were practically empty. Not one home was empty, even some of the abandoned homes had persons who turned then into makeshift shelters.

As a red cross volunteer, first aider at the time, we worked to assist many people from all over. Schools, churches, homes, offices were all shelters. Even the DFC offices had shelterees.

One event occurred bc the Bmp Hospital was filled with seriously ill persons that were sent from hospitals and the KHMH in Bcity. Many services were curtailed as only emergencies cld be accommodated. At the Bmp Comprehensive School, the largest one in the city, we had quite a few pregnant women, some very near the end of the third trimester. One of those ladies went into labour but the Maternity Ward at the hospital cld not accommodate anymore patients. So it fell to senior, experienced red cross volunteers such as Mrs Carolice Aguilar and Ms Johanna Heusner to take care of the lady giving birth. Along with one or two nurses who were sheltering but assisting, and I believe the help of a BDF volunteer, that healthy baby girl was born at the Bmp Comprehensive High School! I seem to remember she was later given the name Michelle!!!

To be clear it was an uncertain time for the entire population, and sadly there were a few deaths as well. A few drownings, some vehicle incidents resulting in death, and of course the damage and recovery efforts. The bus companies were constripted to evacuate persons from the coast and another incident at the Bmp Comprehensive High occured when a bus arrived with evacuees and everyone got off but one older gentleman was still on the bus seemingly sleeping. Soon after it was discovered that he had no pulse, and the same two ladies mentioned above spent over 20 minutes conducting CPR until the ambulance cld arrive. Sadly the gentleman did not recover and it was deduced that he may have passed, somewhere along the highway on the bus, a while before. I only mention this to illustrate that it was also a tragic time for some persons as well.

I can only imagine the immense tragedy it cld have been for our country if we had been hit directly by this monster of a hurricane! We definitely dodged a bullet that time! I mean, over a week later, I drove a friend and his family to the airport and then went into Bze city. The roads were still flooded, especially so between the Haulover bridge and into the City! The pavement had washed away along most of that stretch of highway! In some sections the water rushing across the road was still well over 2 feet high! I still remember my heart pumping furiously as I drove behind a bus that helped push some of the water away, but yet water was seeping in thru the sides of the car doors!

Flowers Staine Cherrymae
I was sheltering with my family in the Sadie Vernon building had a new born baby the building walls started leaking and we were taken out in the rain to be taken to Belmopan the canal in front was flooded with the street a vehicle went into the canal because you couldn't say where it was and where the street was. Once in belmopan we were only allowed a certain amount of water to bathe with about a gallon but it was all good. Can't remember the building in belmopan we were taken to.

Doris Day
Learned that we women are strong and babies will be born in time or out of Time. That a woman will and can deliver a baby in abnormal weather conditions in a abnormal setting that's not conducive to safety. Without complaint at the task at hand. Yet at the same time Contain her grief of a still born child. Humans will to survive is strong.

Yvonne Paulette Hunter Romero
Scariest time of my life. I was close to tears while preparing to leave my house in Belize city and headed for Cayo. I was so thankful that it did not hit Belize because it would have devastated the country. We as a country have a lot to thank God for. Afterwards, the stories of death and destruction suffered by our neighbors in Honduras and Nicaragua started pouring in.

Kim Espat
Filling up water containers in the rain to be able to flush toilets, bath, cook, etc. lots of prayers were answered that week.

GeeMichael Reid
I was working at radio station FM 2000 and we decided to stay in town and cover the storm. It was an interesting time and a firm testimony of GOD's love for Belize. It stood five days offshore before doing something that hurricanes seldom do around that time of the year. It went South and circled Belize wreaking havoc in every nation around us!

Christopher Nesbitt
PG locked down. I was working at Toledo Cacao Growers Association at the time. After it passed, when I went back to work, PG was flooded with Mennonites headed to rebuild houses in Honduras, and there was a steady stream of donated food going on boats over. I believe Aleister King coordinated the boats of food aid to Honduras.