Belize River Valley Braces for Rising Waters Following Tropical Storm Sara

And while Tropical Storm Sara is a thing of the past, villages in the Belize River Valley are expected to see increased flooding over the next weeks. The National Hydrological Service says that the combination of excessive rainfall and high soil saturation will cause flooding on the Mopan, Macal, and Belize Rivers, and the surrounding areas. Marilyn Robinson the Chairperson of Flowers Bank, says flood waters are rising, but no one is in any immediate danger. Meanwhile, Anselm Gillett, Burrell Boom Chairman, says that the flooding hasn’t begun but he and his council stand ready to respond when the waters do come. 

Marilyn Robinson, Chairperson, Flowers Bank: “What we’re doing right here we’re making sure that we keep abreast with what is going on with the people especially those living across the river, the water is very high. It’s much higher than it was last two weeks ago. So right in front of my house right now the water is running across the road and to the back of the yard coming in. We are in constant communication with the personnel from NEMO and so they are aware what is going on here and in the event we need any assistance from them we are going to call them and let them know but right now yes the water is on the road coming into the entrance to the community but I noticed vehicles still going out this morning. Maybe by this evening or early tomorrow morning it will be impassable. Well the designated area for the people of Flowers Bank is the BelRiv Community Center there in Bermudian Landing and if we need to move, I don’t think they will be the need to move because where people are living they have high houses so they won’t get water damage or so all the houses are above the ground. So right now I don’t think there will be much threat. And the people from across the river I will get in contact with them later to find out what the condition is because they don’t want to move.”

“We do as much as we can do. We have our shelters there that we can open in the event the flooding affects people along the river side. We don’t really have a big community that are in need of that kind of assistance right now. Just a couple people along the riverside that would be affected but they have other family members so if they do move it’s not like we really need to open our shelters but they are there and at any moment we can open them.”

Chief Engineer for the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing, Evondale Moody, says that the ministry is deploying personnel and equipment to assist the river valley villages with preparing for the incoming floods. 

Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, Ministry of Infrastructure Development: “We could expect well we are aware that that flood water will travel through the Mopan, the Macal and then into the Belize River and so we expect that that will reach the Belize River downstream sometime later this week so that will affect the Belize district and the River Valley area. So we still have to monitor the works that we have done on the Bermudian Landing Bridge because what we’re experiencing on that bridge structure is the scouring because of the currents and the excessive flood waters that are coming down that river. And so we’ll have to monitor those bridge structures within that area. We are also monitoring the two structures that are on the Crooked Tree Lagoon because more than likely those two bridge structures will be inundated by flood waters but because of the intense work that we have done on the approach to Crooked Tree w have significantly raised that access road and so we don’t expect that the residents of Crooked Tree will be locked off because of the works that we’ve done earlier. Of course we still have to change those two bridge structures. We have to elevate those and as soon as we could garner funds from the Ministry of Finance we will try and do those bridge structures and complete that section. We don’t expect much more to happen within that area but it’s something that we will have to monitor so that we could ensure that all roads are accessible by the public and that’s our aim.”

Tropical Storm Sara, dropped as much as thirteen inches of rain in some parts of the country.