3 years since Hurricane Keith
Did you remember this week’s anniversary? It was three years ago that Hurricane Keith hit Belize. In case you forgot what the destruction was like, News 5 has a reminder for you in this next story.
Stewart Krohn, Reporting
On Friday afternoon it was a distant tropical depression. But by Sunday Keith was a category four hurricane lasting Belize’s resort islands of Ambergris and Caye Caulker with one hundred twenty-five mile an hour winds and several feet of torrential rains. By the time Keith finally moved inland on Monday night, the two islands were devastated, losing all power, water and telephones, as well as hundreds of homes and businesses.
Resident
“Everything, and I just bought a new freezer, TV. I lose it all.”
Resident
“My house fall with everything, this is the only piece of clothes I have, I noh have nothing.”
While the beachfront hotels sustained some damage, it was the working class residential areas on the back side of the islands that took the hardest hit. The storm grew in strength so rapidly, that evacuation was impossible. And while many residents made it to shelters, most rode out the storm in their homes…or what was left of them.
Resident
“We are very poor, this is my house and we need help.”
Q: “What kind of help does the family need?”
Resident
“Like for food, clothes. We lost everything.”
When the waters of the lagoon rose six feet over ground, and winds blew away half their house, the members of this family clung to the rafters for dear life. Amazingly, all managed to survive.
For now, clean up is the first order of business, followed by damage assessment and rebuilding. For some, the task appears overwhelming.
Businesswoman
“We sustained incredible damage. The restaurant’s gone, the boat’s gone, the house needs to be totally redone. We tied the boats as long as we could all through the night and then the docks went and all the boats went.”
Hundreds of boats were scattered like they were toys. And with no fresh water to wash their engines, they will soon turn to rust. Airplanes feared little better.
But as soon as the winds abated, relief began to reach the islands. Soldiers from Belize and Great Britain are setting up tent cities and electricity, phones and water are rapidly being restored.
The residents are nothing if not industrious. And by the end of November they should be once again ready to extend a warm welcome to tourists. By that time, Hurricane Keith will be a distant, though painful memory.
Hurricane Keith is estimated to have caused two hundred and fifty million U.S. dollars in damages.
