Meteorologist: keep a close eye on Lili

Whatever plans Belizeans may have for the weekend, they will be carried out with at least one eye on the Weather Channel. Chief Meteorologist Carlos Fuller says his staff has been closely monitoring the movement of tropical storm Lili. Although it is still too early to predict whether or not the system will affect Belize, Fuller says we should start to plan for any eventuality.

Carlos Fuller, Chief Meteorologist

“Certainly, the first thing that Belizeans should realise is where they are going to spend the hurricane. If you’re going to be on the coastline, it is advisable to more inland or to go into a building sufficiently high enough and strong enough to withstand a hurricane. If you are not going to stay in your home, then you need to find a shelter inland, whether it’s in Belmopan, Orange Walk Town, San Ignacio, go into a shelter that it sturdy. You don’t have to worry about the sea then, but it is important that you have windows and doors that can be boarded up. So that would be the second thing, know where to go and only as a last resort should you consider going into a shelter on the cayes or in Belize City or Corozal Town, Dangriga or Punta Gorda. You move out of these areas, and only as a last resort you go into a shelter in one of these shelters. In my opinion, the earliest we would declare go into a preliminary phase would be sometime on Sunday, giving us then three days to act, so there’s a lot of time.”

Fuller says initially it was predicted that 2002 would have been an active hurricane season. While tropical storms have been frequent, only two hurricanes have made their appearance so far.