Water Coming Down To Crooked Tree
Last week, we showed you the aftermath of the flooding in the Cayo District - residents cleaning out their homes and businesses after the waters rushed in. Well, as usual, those floodwaters have continued its journey, and the effects can now be seen in the Belize River Valley area. And one village that has always had to contend with flooding is Crooked Tree.
The water from the surrounding lagoon normally rises above the village's causeway, putting it completely underwater. Once this happens, the Coast Guard normally ferries residents in and out of the village.
And today, those Coast Guardsmen were out there preparing to assist the students and other residents returning to the village, because while the causeway isn't completely underwater, there are portions of it that are covered.
And one resident, Steve "Groovemaster" Perriot explained that the villagers have come to expect this recurring issue, but they're hopeful that work will be done on their causeway soon. Here's how he put it:
Steve Anthony Perriot, Resident, Crooked Tree
"This is something where unfortunately this is our job. We know this is what Crooked Tree and the whole river valley area we do, so when we heard about Julia and we saw the rains and everything, we knew we were going to get it. There is no much preparation you could do for an event like this, because you could stock up on food, you could do things like that, but when you go to sleep one night and you could drive across on the next morning you can't, that feels like the first time. You feel locked off. We appreciate the fact that the coast guard they come. They're like honorary Crooked Tree people right now and they've always done a great job here with us and it's not that we're not glad to see them, we wish we didn't have to see them. But I hope that now, because it's not the first time. I hope that the people that are in charge will learn from this and would come with a magic marker and write where the level is, so that when this is done, you could full the road to that level so that we don't have to be doing this every 3-4 years."
"I spoke with somebody in the ministry yesterday and they assured me that they're going to put tar and aggregate up until where it floods, because the tar getting into the water would be bad for the village and for the fish and the fauna and everything and they said they'd cement the other part. So we are looking forward to that, but in the meantime its just another inconvenience, not only for us, but for many people in low laying areas."
Reporter
"Do you feel that no villager or no resident of Belize should have to live like this?"
Steve Anthony Perriot, Resident, Crooked Tree
"No one should. We've had many years - we know every year when the floods come, we know what's going to happen and we seem to keep putting it off. We seem to push it off until next year and until the next administration and we the people need to hold our representatives right from the village council up more accountable for things that we need in the village. Right now, we just lost our chairman, very young chairman and I'm sure he would have been a great chairman, but we're still going through with what we need to do with the rest of the council."
While the Coast Guard normally uses a boat to ferry residents, since the water is still relatively low, they're using a vehicle to transport the villagers.
Channel 7
AmbergrisCaye.com 
