Morning downpour soaks city

It has been the “pilinkiest” raining season in recent memory…at least until this morning, when Belize City residents, who woke up to a city with a shortage of electricity, also found a massive surplus of water. Jacqueline Woods reports from one thoroughly soaked neighbourhood.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

There was water everywhere as heavy showers overnight and this morning flooded homes, yards and alleyways through Mayflower Street. The deluge was so great that even this tadpole had no problem making its way from the yard to the living room of this house.

Sandra Uter, Resident

“This is the worst. This is the worst. Because when those storms use to come, those little tropical storms use to come, it was not really this bad but like it is getting worst to every time.”

“It really noh take a lot of rain. Once you see a little downpour come, like a half an hour that is it right there. People have to try and move there things from the lower part and put it higher.”

But some residents, like this young man, didn’t even have time to put away the clothes at his bedside.

Nora Zuniga, Resident

“It’s a real disaster here, cause you see the condition of the house. They seh they wah finish the house, they can’t finish. And I have children, I have kids di goh dah high school.”

Jacqueline Woods

“Every time it rains your house floods?”

Nora Zuniga

“Every time it rains the house floods. Every time it rains. Dah wah real disaster.”

The residents believe because there is no drainage in the area the water has nowhere to go. So it settles onto people’s yards and then into their low-lying homes.

Laura Ellis, Resident, Mayflower Street

“They want me to go upstairs, but I noh going, you understand. I noh going nowhere I nevah gone before. Forty years I live yah and I noh know how their house stay. I know how upstairs stay when I mi up deh; I noh know how it stay since I come downstairs.”

One of the residents hard hit was ninety-two year old Laura Ellis. Ellis, who is completely blind, was sitting in her water-bound rocking chair. She has been living in the area since the 60s and has no intention of moving, but would like some assistance to protect her house from the water.

Laura Ellis

“If they can give me some rough lumber to floor in here, that’s all. Because my son-in-law says he was raise the cement, but it noh mek sense. But if they floor it, the water wah run under the flooring. But it noh bother me when I could mi see. But now weh I can’t see, well I just have to just pray.”

While visiting the neighbourhood, the City Council did send over a backhoe to dig a drain to allow the water to flow, but residents believe that something more permanent will have to be done before the hurricane season reaches its peak.

Sandra Uter

“It will help for awhile, at least it wah solve the problem a little less of a problem we wah have due to the water drainage… Because all the water come from the back come try find way fi let out this way yah so, so we wah stay have this problem here. So they really have to start to dig from way to back coming out. But I feel if they put the drain cement, we wah have wah better drainage.”

But water is not the only problem. A year ago, the residents say they were encouraged to have their garbage removed as part of a cleanup campaign. According to Cynthia Goff, the programme started off fine, but eventually turned sour, as they have been waiting for over a month for the excess filth to be removed.

Cynthia Goff

“It’s very bad, especially with small children around. We have lot of small children in the yard, from babies, one year to one month. It could cause germs. You know how pickny pick up germs quicker than big people. And that dah the only playing grounds they have right now weh the dirt them pile up. Dah deh used to be their lee spot weh they play ball, weh they run round. And that throw them off now, they have to play different parts.”

“If they noh want move it, scatter it back and them throw the sand on top of it so it could be like a filling up. Because now the bags them all bust up weh they had them in. They weh can’t ker it out, they wah have to bring bag again and full them all over.”

When News 5 contacted Bernard Adolphus, one of the persons involved in the clean up campaign, he says the idea was to transform the area in an effort to uplift the neighbourhood. Initially, he says they gave area residents a stipend to remove the garbage, but unfortunately the programme has been affected by lack of money and other resources. So it seems the garbage will remain on site until residents take the initiative and clear their area. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.