Hurricane Iris struck south six years ago

While there is only a minor disturbance being monitored in the Caribbean Sea tonight, six years ago Belize was battening down for the arrival of Hurricane Iris. The category four storm made landfall around seven-thirty on the night of October eighth, 2001, with the eye passing just north of Monkey River. Weather experts would later measure maximum sustained winds at one hundred and forty-five miles per hour with higher localised gusts. Those winds and accompanying storm surges laid waste to the coastal villages of Punta Negra, Monkey River, Placencia, Seine Bight, and Independence. Further inland, at least a dozen villages including San Pedro Columbia, San Miguel, Big Falls, and San Antonio were battered to the point where in some cases not a thatch roofed home was left standing. While thousands were left homeless, twenty people, all passengers on the “Wave Dancer”, were the only fatalities. The international visitors refused to leave the dive boat, which was moored at the port of Big Creek and seek refuge at shelters in Independence. During the storm, one of the vessel’s mooring lines broke from the dock and the boat capsized. The resulting lawsuits from family members of the victims were eventually settled in 2003. While Iris has left its mark on the south, the affected communities have rebounded and to be sure, a hurricane warning will never be taken lightly again.