Heavy Rains Cause Flooding in Southern Belize; Infrastructure Damage Assessed

The flood waters have receded for the most part, but over the weekend several homes took in water after heavy rains inundated certain portions of the south.  Our newsroom had received photos and videos of flooding in certain areas including Bladen, Trio and Golden Stream.  Several teams were deployed out of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing (MIDH) to conduct assessments on the extent of the flooding and damaged infrastructure.  According to Chief Engineer, Evondale Moody, the waters have receded since our report yesterday.

Evondale Moody, Engineer Coordinator, MIDH: “In respect to the Trio Village it was only the wooden bridge that was inundated by floodwaters which is located approximately about four miles from the main highway but our assessment as of today has indicated that those waters has receded and we have done some inspection on the bridge itself and that bridge is still intact even though it’s a wooden structure. In respect to Bella Vista, yes, that area has received flooding in terms of the village itself but what we have assessed is that some of the drains needs to be reopened within the village itself because those drains are linked to the main highway drain and the main highway drain is adequately opened but from our assessment, we believe that the banana farms that are located within that area is pushing water towards the village and those secondary drains that are within the village itself are not adequate enough to cope with that amount of water and rainfall intensity that we had over the weekend. And so we are, we as a ministry, we are trying to clear some of those drains within the community of Bella Vista. A number of them are blocked. A number of them are overgrown with bushes. We have had some flooding as well in the silk grass area. However, the families that were affected within that area are those that are living close to the Silkgrass Creek and so it is anticipated that once that creek overtop its bank then of course those families will be affected because some of their homes are also very low. However, from what we have assessed today, we have seen that those waters has receded as well within the Silkgrass area. We also did some inspection the Sitee River Road whereby we have identified that there were some erosions on the bank of the river which has eroded the front road, which we call the front road to some extent, but it’s not that detrimental to the access road going into Sitee River.”

Chief Engineer Moody said the assessments led to other inspections where they found some rural parts under water off the Coastal Highway.

Evondale Moody, Engineer Coordinator, MIDH: “We also did some inspection on other secondary roads that are leading off the Hummingbird Highway and also off the coastal road and some areas have some type of erosion but we’re trying to address those as best as we can throughout the day and also tomorrow. We’re very sure that the Coastal Highway will be adequate for the movement of transportation during a flood event. What I made reference to is the feeder roads that are linked off the Coastal Road. Those are still feeder roads. They’re still gravel roads and so it was assessed that one or two of those roads had some flooding issues, but it’s not the Coastal Road it’s the secondary roads that are linked to the coastal highway.”