Flooding in the City caused by low pressure system
Dennis Gonguez
At the press conference at which the signage project was discussed, the Belize City Emergency Management Organization also said that it has sprung into action following the heavy rains on Tuesday night which flooded parts of the city. The rains are being caused by a broad area of low pressure moving across the country. According to Phillip Willoughby of CEMO, they are providing shelter to some residents and will continue to do so until the system moves on.
Dennis Gonguez, Chief Meteorological Officer
“A broad area of low pressure exists over the north-western Caribbean. The center of this system is presently over the Orange Walk District. Since it is over land, there is no potential for it to develop further; however, we had rainfall in the amount of two to two and a half inches in the northern parts of the country. Belize City had just about that, two and a half inches of rain fall. And all indications are that we will have some more rainfall, but not as the amount that we had last night. There will be some decreased. We will probably get up to about two inches of rainfall during morning time on Thursday with some decreases coming on later on Thursday afternoon. However with the system still lingering around, it’s been moving very slowly towards the Bay of Campeche at about five to ten miles per hour, so we can still see some more showers come Friday. Although the amounts on Friday will be less, on the decreasing trend, we will still have significant showers on Friday and then improvements come on Saturday. So indications are that we could have up to an inch on Friday and then tomorrow we can have up to about two inches of rainfall which is a little bit less than what we had yesterday evening and last night.”
Phillip Willoughby
Phillip Willoughby, CEMO
“The measures as follows will be executed. There will be a partial activation of the Belize City Council EOC here at our head office whereby an emergency task force will be put into operation to provide logistical support where needed for residents of the city to evacuate. Police officers will be assigned to our EOC at five o’clock to provide security services as we implement and execute the plan of action. After communicating with the EOC and the various other services who provide emergency support, they will be then transported to the Bishop Sylvestre Memorial Center, where they will housed for a short period of time until if the low pressure system provides them to be there and housed there. Immediately after the system or the area of low pressure dissipates, then they will go back to their homes.”
Any Belize City resident in need of help can call CEMO at 227-2622, 227-2308, 227-3073 and 227-7205
