Mayor of San Pedro Encourages Voluntary Evacuation

NEMO advises that if Beryl continues along its projected path there is a chance hurricane-force winds impact the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts, San Pedro, and Caye Caulker. The communities experienced persistent rains over the weekend, saturating soil and increasing the likelihood of flooding. Since Monday, scores of islanders have been making their way inland to avoid being hit by the brunt of the storm. However, the islanders will have a limited time to leave as several water taxis will suspend runs beginning tomorrow.  Last night, San Pedro Mayor Gualberto Nunez encouraged the voluntary evacuation and pleaded with residents to stay informed by listening to trusted news sources.

Wally Nunez, Mayor of San Pedro Town: “One of the main messages, just like how Ms. Parham just mentioned to the general public, is that we need to start to prepare and if in preparing we need to evacuate, this is not a mandatory evacuation at the moment. It is a voluntary evacuation, but if you feel safer inland, if you have family where to go in the mainland, we are asking to the general public to please do so because we don’t know what will be or how we’re going to be affected by this storm. So if you can evacuate, if you can seek shelter inland with family or friends, it is better to do so than later on that we are running into last minute trying to find a shelter for you all and to find a place that we can try to get everybody as safe as possible. So my message today is to ask everyone to prepare themselves. If you can evacuate, please do so. We want to inform the people, actually we want to ask the public to only listen to official reports. And that’s for that same reason as the council, we follow one, well NEMO we follow the organization instead of trying to come up with different because out there there’s different people posting from all over and sometimes they can misguide you. And just like how you were saying, there’s a lot of uncertainty at the moment as to where it’s going to land or where it’s going to be making landfall.”

Nunez encouraged residents remaining on the island to familiarize themselves with the list of San Pedro’s shelters.