If Chalillo dam breaks, will NEMO be ready?

Two major rivers flow through the Cayo District and that makes the area prone to flooding. Today the National Emergency Management Organization tested its preparedness for such an eventuality. NEMO committees, the Red Cross and other agencies converged in the west today for a simulation exercise that started as early as seven o’clock this morning. News Five’s Jose Sanchez headed to San Ignacio and has a report.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting

Since the massive 2008 flood that displaced families in the Cayo District, the country has been afflicted with several natural disasters.  The overflow of the Chalillo and the Mollejon that year has encouraged the National Emergency Management Organization to prepare a simulation in case of a break at Chalillo. This morning NEMO’s Cayo headquarters was bustling with emergency response committees.

Al Westby, District Coordinator for NEMO, Cayo

Al Westby

“We are preparing ourselves for the worst case scenario in case if there is a dam breach or anything like that. Presently, we are testing the Cayo flood plan, the BECOL flood plan, the schools such as Santa Elena RC School, Anglican Primary in Cayo, Bullet Tree, Calla Creek, Santa Familia, Cristo Rey and also St. Ignatius High School along with Sacred Heart College.”

Nemo’s Deputy Coordinator, Shelton Deford, gave an outline of which communities would be impacted by a dam break.

Shelton Deford, Deputy Coordinator, NEMO

“What we have here is the Chalillo dam in this area. What we estimate is that when God forbid the dam break, we estimate based on models that the water should flow obviously downstream from the high elevation to the lower areas affecting farms and communities along its path going into Black Rock, going into Cristo Rey, going into Santa Elena/San Ignacio, affecting Bullet Tree, Calla Creek and those communities, then going into Belize River and affecting areas along that path. Communities like Esperanza can be affected all the way out to Spanish Lookout and perhaps Iguana Creek and further downstream along western highway.”

Deford also gave an estimated response time that those communities would have to get to higher ground.

Shelton Deford

“The rough estimate that we’re looking at based on the modeling is between thirty to fifty miles per hour. So in essence people should have, for example, in the Santa Elena/San Ignacio area, at least one hour warning time. Closer to the dam, proportionately you know you have less time. For example, in Black Rock, it is forty-nine minutes. So that’s type of the timing for those two locations.”

The Cayo Emergency Response Rescue Team performed a search and rescued a woman from the Macal River.  The group headed by William Swan, was making sure that thirty members got their feet wet in the exercise.

William Swan, Cayo Emergency Response Rescue Team

“We have a percentage that is ready. I will not say all it ready but we still continue training. We just started up two branches of our rescue team in the two different villages that we know are prone to floods, which is the Bullet Tree area and Santa Familia. We had a meeting last week, we’re starting a rescue team right now. We’re planning right now to do some training with them. Right now we’re seeking professional trainees from outside to come in and assist us. Our performance, once ih come we know right now it’s more water type rescues we do because it is a dam threat. So we are prepared, we have our vessel on standby, we have our team on standby, our boat captain; so we’re ready to respond to water disasters at this moment and we also have medical people on standby.”

John Bodden

John Bodden, Senior Public Health Inspector, Ministry of Health

“I will be looking at the medical care and public health response. However, the general disaster response I will also be looking at because I am trained in that area as well.”

If the massive walls of Chalillo should fall and millions of gallons of water push towards centers, a warning system will activate at Chalillo, then sirens will blast at communities along the path of destruction.

Shelton Deford

“People should hear the siren and that is why we’re doing this simulation today to test one; does it work? Two; can people actually hear it? Three; how fast do they move from the vulnerable area where they are located to safety? And to see if that system has been informed to the public and general population in those areas.”

Several schools including St. Ignatius High School are being tested for their readiness.

Shailla Lennon, Councillor, St. Ignatius High School

“We will take all our students up the hill. We have a hill entitled Higher Street or Neal Street. It’s a popular street in town and we’ll take the kids up to that street. When we reach at that location, we plan to do a head count to ensure that everybody is there and then we will just be there until the all clear is given or until we feel that it is safe to come down the hill.”

Jose Sanchez

“In the likelihood of an actual dam breakage, this area will be swamped with waters going at fifty miles per hour. You won’t be able to return. Do you have a plan if you have to stay at the top of the hill?”

Shailla Lennon

“Well, that can be a good thing and a bad thing because some of our students live in that area. So for them it would be good. However, we do have students from rural villages, all behind Spanish Lookout and that will pose a challenge for them.”

The Macal remains calm on the surface, but when the swift and deep waters run through, the question is not where you will be? But how you will respond? Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.