Chantal hits Corozal, some areas suffer damage
Tropical storm Chantal, the wannabe hurricane that just couldn’t seem to get organised, passed over northern Ambergris Caye and the Corozal District last night. But before finally drifting off towards the Gulf of Mexico, Chantal, with winds reaching seventy miles per hour, packed just enough of a punch to remind Corozalenos that they are no less vulnerable than any other Belizeans who live on the coast. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods journeyed up the Northern Highway where she found that while most residents fared well, some were hard hit by the wind and water.
Clinton Thompson Jr., Resident, Calcutta Village
“It was a bit a scary. First about 8:00 a slight breeze started and then about 12:00 the real breeze, strong breeze started. I looked through the window and saw trees blowing, plantain trees falling.”
Veronica Warren, Resident, Calcutta Village
“Well last night was a little scary, with the noise and the we heard outside…I heard some noise with the trees that feel. I didn’t really know what to do with my kids.”
Albert Ysaguirre, Resident, San Joaquin Village
“All of us were inside the house, listening to the radio, to hear what’s going on. No panicking, just getting a lot of rain, drizzling, sometimes it stops and it would start again. About 1:00 in the morning, we got a strong breeze.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
As the wind increased, Felix Mai, an announcer with Love FM, was outside on the shores of the Corozal Bay sending reports when he noticed the water starting to rise.
Felix Mai, Announcer, Love FM
“The sea water was going over the sea wall and it actually reached the extent of the light post, and went over it. We were in the area of Hokol Kin hotel right in front of the sea. I could have seen the water just going over the hotel and it’s a two-storey building. That was really scary, being in the middle of the storm, our vehicle shaking from side to side. It was really panicky, and I was on air at the time trying not to sound panicky on air. But nevertheless, we went through it and it lasted about three hours.”
The water caused extensive damage to Corozal’s infrastructure including several resorts.
Dahlia Castillo, Manager, Tony’s Resort and Inn
“Well when I came in, I was very disappointed. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was taking things for granted a little bit, I didn’t believe it was going to make so much mess. We have two piers, which made the marina and as you can see, most of that is gone. The left hand side and the right hand side. Our electrical poles are gone, the lamps, our new deck, which is a favourite spot for our customers and guests, the flooring went away too.”
Mario Narvaez, Chairman, DEMO
“We have quite a number of damages. Our beautiful sea shore has been damaged, we have the main wharf that has been cut almost in half, we lost about two or three other private wharves, the sea wall is quite damaged in some areas.”
The wind not only uprooted trees and smashed sea walls, but also blew off the roof of this house on the Consejo road. Marbella Catzim says she was inside with her husband when they were awakened by a loud noise.
Marbella Catzim, Storm Victim
“We were sleeping and he told me to let’s move because the roof was starting to move in. We packed what we could and went over there. As we came out, from here, the roof went.”
Residents who thought their homes were not safe went to shelters.
Jacqueline Woods
“Thirty-one people from the village sought shelter here at the Calcutta Government School. However, they say the building was not suitable to protect them from the storm.”
Eugene Aldana, Resident, Calcutta
“I find this place very in a mess. They said they had plywood, to seal the windows. We haven’t got anything. The chairperson says that it was at the B.S.E. college at the public works has send it there. Nothing has come here, we were waiting for it to nail up, but we had to do our own little work and it wasn’t so protective for us.”
Mario Narvaez
“Well I believe that is a big concern of NEMO Corozal. For two years now, we understood that NEMO central got funds for retrofitting of several schools and buildings. I am sorry to say, but nothing much was done to that.”
Tropical storm Chantal also caused damage to agriculture. The Esquivel farm lost most of its papaya and plantain fields. George Esquivel says the papayas, worth almost fifty thousand dollars, were destined for export to Florida.
Jacqueline Woods
“It took the Esquivel brothers eight months grow the papaya trees, and in just a couple of hours seventy-five percent of what they planted has been totally destroyed.”
George Esquivel, Papaya Farmer
“Well you can see the damage was extensive, everything is on the ground, the majority. And the ones that standing up, you can see that they have no leaves and when the sun comes out it will burn the papaya that stayed on the tree because they have no protection.”
Jacqueline Woods
“How do you plan to recover from this loss?”
George Esquivel
“Maybe the Ministry of Agriculture will give us a help.”
Seven Miles north of Corozal Town, residents of Consejo, A coastal Village just across the bay from Chetumal, Mexico chose not to evacuate but in fact stayed in their homes to ride out the storm.
Jose Garrido, Chairman, Consejo Village
“For a while it was a bit scary for us. A lot of wind was blowing, rains, we had gusts of about fifty miles an hour. I lasted for maybe six hours, from about 8:00 until 2:00 in the morning. From 12:00 until 2:00, was when we had more wind, that was when the trees started to fall down.”
Jacqueline Woods
“It has been raining on and off here in Consejo Village, and as you can see, the wind has definitely picked up a bit. Residents say because the village is located on the northern tip of Corozal, they are surprised that the damage in the village has been minimal.”
Despite the inclement weather, Corozal residents and the District Emergency Management Organisation started cleaning the area as soon as it was safe to venture outside.
Jose Garrido
“Cleaning up, picking up the trees. First, we went looking around through the neighbourhood to see if there are any houses damaged. Fortunately there was none, just the trees.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Ivan, why did you guys decide to come out here and give a helping hand?”
Ivan Perez, Resident, Corozal Town
“Because I think that the community needs to start coming out and give and hand to the government. We expect the government to do everything for us. So we need to come out and give a hand.”
Corozal officials say they will continue to assess the damage and see what kind of assistance can be given to families who suffered damages as a result of tropical storm Chantal. Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.
While parts of Corozal were also hit by Hurricane Keith last year, the district’s greatest disaster occurred in 1955 when Hurricane Janet virtually destroyed Corozal Town.