Flood Relief Efforts Ongoing in Belize District Communities

The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) is working to assist persons who continue to be impacted by floods in the Belize District. Since the weather system impacted the country, dozens of citizens have been negatively affected, people suffered damage to their homes, and farmers lost scores of crops. And while the storm is now a thing of the past, its effects remain visible in several communities in the Belize River Valley. For days, villagers from Crooked Tree, Rancho Dolores, May Pen, and Flowers Bank have been forced to traverse in and out of the communities by boat or large trucks. And, most recently, floodwaters have begun to impact low-lying areas of Burrell Boom Village, displacing six families. The situation remains fluid as the waters from the Cayo District slowly flow downstream, causing the Belize River and nearby creeks to overflow. Fortunately, National Emergency Coordinator Retired Captain Daniel Mendez says NEMO remains on the ground in the communities and is working to assist the impacted families.

Captain Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO: “The flooding has been affecting firstly, the Cayo district as we have been reporting for the past few days and we have been seeing it go downstream. So we are currently looking at flooding in the area of Lords Bank and Burrell Boom. You also would have noted that we have been putting out advisories and information regarding the closure of roads along that area. So we are continuing that effort for the next few days. We have teams out doing assessments. We have teams out also providing immediate assistance. We’ll keep on monitoring this as it develops. We have boosted our teams at the Ladyville office in order for us to be able to provide adequate response. So there’s continuing aid being sent into the area. We are monitoring it closely as the water continues to rise and hopefully we start to see it leveling off and a decrease in the next few days. But for the meantime we will be maintaining operations as long as it’s necessary, not only in the Belize River Valley but also throughout all of those areas that were impacted by flood. The situation in Burrell Boom has been resolved. There were some challenges that we had seen. However, we have been able to overcome those. So that shelter is open. I cannot recall the total number of persons in shelters but we do have shelters open across the country, particularly in the Belize River Valley area where the high waters are continuing to affect people’s homes. So these shelters will be open as long as necessary for people to seek refuge. Again, if there’s a need to open any other shelter in any other community, these will be open as necessary.”

Mendez further explained that while NEMO has been on the ground in several communities, it has yet to complete a damage assessment report on the storm’s effects. 

Captain Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO: “Damage assessment is ongoing in the Cayo district. However, you do note that because there are many areas still underwater, there are a lot of places that we have still not been able to get to. We have been doing analysis via satellite imagery and so we should be able to get a better idea or a bird’s eye of view of what the total impact. However, a lot of this needs to be verified on with on the ground visits, which are not yet possible because of the flood conditions. The damage assessments will continue over the next few weeks as we are able to access more and more areas. Crooked Tree is not accessible by road. We have had to put boats into the area as you’ve seen and those operations will continue as long as it’s safe for people to operate safely. And so those boats will remain in operation. Currently it is not possible by road. In the area of Rancho Dolores, I believe that those operations are still ongoing because their levels are still high. In other parts of the district, we have been able to revert back to trucks, large BDF trucks are able to drive out people into and out of the villages, particularly in the Flowers Bank area.”

Mendez added that while the hurricane season comes to an end on Saturday, Belizeans should remain vigilant when it comes to natural disasters.