Flooding continues in Port Loyola
For weeks, a Belize City community has been trapped by rising water. Residents of the Port Loyola area say the flood has washed away their normal routine, leaving behind a lot of bad smelling water and a feeling of helplessness. This afternoon, News 5’s Jacqueline Woods and George Tillett put on their rubber boots to get a first hand account of the situation.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The recent rains couldn’t have come at a worst time for people in the Port Loyola Division. The yards of many houses in several neighbourhoods have been flooded for over a month. Residents say their spirits are falling as the trapped water continues to rise.
George Augustine, Resident
“This is hell, I don’t like this. My kids cannot come down and play in the yard like they use. When I first moved here, I filled the yard a little, so they could play in the yard. But now they have to stay upstairs on the veranda all day.”
Elvis Bevans, Resident
“It feels as if I live on the ship Titanic, because the way my yard is sinking and the water is rising, I kind of want to send an SOS message to anybody that can help the situation.”
Peggy Gladden, Resident
“We try to live everyday a normal life, but it’s hard. It’s very hard to really get in and out how we want to. And the water kind of coming on to the street now, so we don’t know what we going to do when the water does full the street. We might have to use rubber boots and those who don’t have will have to walk in it.”
Jacqueline Woods
“You’re saying the residents are not only have a problem with the flood, but as well you all have been noticing a number of crocodiles in the are.”
Miguel Martinez, Resident
“Yes, because a lot of crocodiles are here. The crocodiles are all about, but you can’t kill them because that is against the law because we could borrow guns and shoot them. We have to left that to the government, that’s why we report it, but they don’t want to do anything about it.”
The neighbourhoods look as if they have been transformed into a lagoon. Jane Usher Boulevard, Curl Thompson Street and their surrounding areas have been most affected. The residents say their new “swimming pools” are teeming with tarpon and other fish. The streets were empty of any neighbourhood dogs, as the animals remained confined to the dry locations they could find.
Terrence Moya, Resident
“I have to get nervous because the water can reach as high as your flooring. And if your house is not built the right way, it can even float the house. If your house is not really on a thing called “heel-strap” to hold down the house to the earth, it can float the house.”
Elvis Bevans
“Actually there is nothing that we can do, but just sit and wait and ask for help from anybody willing to help. It doesn’t have to be a political help, but we just need some help because the water is two feet and rising.”
It is believed the flood is being caused by the dredging that’s taking place in the area. Residents say the drains that once allowed the water to flow are blocked.
George Augustine
“It’s the worst. For the last month this wasn’t happening.”
Jacqueline Woods
“What do you think is contributing to the problem?”
George Augustine
“Well, the water has nowhere to go due to this project to the back here that they are having. They blocked the drains and water raised on that side because they have lot of lagoons to the back there. So when it comes this side it has nowhere to go out to the sea.”
Terrence Moya
“We need more filling, clay that they usually use.”
Jacqueline Woods
“You said you already put down two loads of clay?”
Terrence Moya
“Yeah, but it need more because as you can see, the water still overtake that.”
Elvis Bevans
“It smells really foul, an awful scent. Whenever anything drops in the water, or if it rains, it’s a bad scent that already sickening the kids.”
George Augustine says a team from the dredging project came into
the neighbourhood to render assistance, but nothing changed.
George Augustine
“Well they come back here and they said they were going to try and dig some drains to let the water go down. They did that, but nothing happened because the water still high.”
Jacqueline Woods
“While this morning’s high tide may have made an already bad situation worse, residents fear that the water will continue to rise if it has nowhere to go. Reporting for News 5, I’m Jacqueline Woods.”
When News 5 contacted the Ministry of Human Development to get a comment from area representative Dolores Balderamos Garcia, we were told that she is presently out of the country and there was no one else available who can speak on the matter. In September, other residents from the same area had complained about flooding, but we had been made to understand it was because of a breakage in one of the dikes and that the situation would have been rectified forthwith. However, today News 5 received a copy of the “Monitoring Site Visit Report” done by the Department of the Environment at the dredging site, which concludes that the flooding in the area in late September could have been avoided. According to the environmental officers, the engineers failed to identify structural weaknesses in the berms or walls between the ditches. These berms collapsed causing a backflow of effluent from the Belize Water Services Limited canals and dredged water to flood the area. News 5 was unable to get a comment from the dredging company to find out if this was still the case.
