NEMO Says More Floods Are Expected

Flooding has reportedly mostly devastated areas of the Cayo District such as Calla Creek and Bullet Tree. This has prompted many families to evacuate their homes, resulting in about one hundred and four persons who will be spending the night in one of the six shelters around the district. According to Colonel Shelton Defour, their primary concern at the moment is the level of the Mopan River. They are also assessing the damages sustained in various parts of the district.

Col. Shelton Defour, Coordinator, NEMO: “Well it’s very preliminary at this stage because the water is still up and in the case of them open the area that has been affected the most in terms of the Mopan River communities the water has risen four inches in the last five hours so mostly household items but when you look at the terrain itself we know that definitely a lot of farms have been impacted, you know we saw vehicles in Benque flooded out, we saw various equipment and so the losses we cannot really estimate at this time.” 

Colonel Defour says that they are bracing for flood waters to trickle into the rural areas of Belize as heavy rains prevail in Guatemala.

Col. Shelton Defour, Coordinator, NEMO: “We are bracing for potentially a significant flood event in the Belize River Valley area. The water is cresting in the Belize river in the Cayo district, it’s moving downhill at a rapid pace and so with the inundation where the ground was already saturated in those areas due to pooling and accumulation with water it means now that we have this second wave of floodwaters that will reach into this is like Crooked Tree they are already experiencing flooding. A family is being affected and so far they have decided not to move as yet. We have a move we have advised them to move in so we will see other communities like Lemonal which will be impacted and all the string of communities in the River Valley so we are warning people to take heed, listen to the advisory, another advisor will be coming out this evening giving some specifics as to what we ought to be doing. Move to safety, move your animals, the Ministry of Agriculture in the national emergency meeting this morning is working with farmers in Belriv and the Crooked Tree area so that they could move out whatever crops, livestock whatever to a safer area.”