Downstream communities face flooding

As bad as things are in Blue Creek, they are just a preview of what communities downstream will suffer as the determined waters of the Rio Hondo wind their way to the sea some 75 miles away. And not just Belize is affected. On your screen is the Mexican village of La Union, just a long jump across the Rio Hondo from Blue Creek. It too has been cut off from the rest of the nation and Mexican army helicopters have been busy ferrying supplies from Chetumal.

On the Belize side of the border the three villages in the most trouble are San Antonio, San Roman and Douglas. As these pictures show, parts of San Antonio are already underwater.

The same goes for San Roman Village, which lies several miles downstream from San Antonio and will receive its peak flooding perhaps as much as a day later.

Still further downstream the village of Douglas is under threat, as are surrounding agricultural lands. All the villages mentioned are cut off from road communication and in many cases bridges have been washed out and ferries rendered inoperable. We hope to have additional video of these villages shot from ground level, later in this newscast.