Heavy rains flood Belize District schools

According to the weather experts, between nine last night and nine this morning, much of the country was trapped in a deluge of water. Rainfall gauges at the Hershey compound on the Hummingbird Highway recorded five point one seven inches, while Belize City was flooded by some three point eight inches. We understand the trough crossing the country is very unusual for this time of year as the system travelled east to west rather than north to south. This morning News Five’s Karla Vernon put on her boots to find out how the Belize District was coping with all that water and found that students were the hardest hit.

Karla Vernon, Reporting
Even if you did not hear the school closure announcement on the radio this morning, anyone passing Our Lady of the Way Roman Catholic School in Ladyville would know immediately why classes had been cancelled. After last night?s heavy rains, the campus was more like a small lake.

Buttonwood Bay Primary School in Belize City was also flooded and abandoned.

Ruth Castillo, Principal, Buttonwood Bay Primary
?We had about eight people showing up this morning for classes. I guess the children are used to the fact that usually when it rains the yard floods. We are just trying to do some land filling now and like I said earlier, we are surrounded by swamp and so it takes a while for the water to drain off… and the children are probably used to that, so they just stayed home.?

The few students who did make the trek, made the best of things, playing football on the veranda with the self-appointed school mascot.

Ruth Castillo
We know a lot of our students come from behind the Jane Usher Boulevard area, Lake Independence area, Police Street, where the streets are terrible and with the rain pouring like that, there is no way the children can really get out to catch the bus to come to school.?

?We would hope that the parents would assist when the children come home with extra homework this week.?

Nazarene High School also cancelled classes today. Principal Samuel Sukhnandan told News Five there was some flooding, but the decision to close school was made mainly because only half the student body showed up. Most of them were wet and chilled, so everyone was sent home, except the teachers who used today to hold an extended staff meeting. Karla Vernon for News Five.