Belize River Valley Residents Struggle as Flooding Disrupts Daily Life

Residents across the Belize District continue to be affected by flooding, particularly in the Belize River Valley area. As floodwaters rush down from the Cayo District, residents in low-lying communities in Rural Belize are being impacted by inundated streets, bridges, and homes. This week, communities like Crooked Creek and Rancho Dolores were cut off by road and remain underwater. Today, the Area Representative of Belize Rural Central, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, spoke about the flooding situation in her constituency and efforts to assist victims. 

Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development: “We were on the Sibun River yesterday and the river is quite high but not to the level of threatening anybody. Some agricultural crops have been affected. Now, in the Lord’s Bank area, and I actually am going there as soon as we finish here, in the Lord’s Bank area we have the river coming up. Because you see, this is like days after the storm when the floodwaters are coming down the Belize River. And also the Sibun River as well, you know? The Sibun River isn’t too bad. But in Lord’s Bank I understand the water is coming up a little bit and there are some families affected so I’m heading over there right now. Let’s continue to pray. We hope for good and dry weather for the rest of the year. We hope we have a good Christmas. But we’re working in our area. Well, we have our grocery program. We have NEMO that helps with supplies, cleaning supplies and things like that. And basically it’s reaching out to people. I think when people see your face, when people realize that the government cares we can do a lot. And of course we are responding, mostly with the grocery and the cleaning supplies and that kind of thing.”

Garcia added she will continue to closely monitor the situation.