King Tides to Make Matters Worse for Belize City

Ronald Gordon

Current weather conditions are already affecting the country with a total of one to two inches of rainfall today. There will be an additional one to two inches of rainfall on Saturday and then three to five inches of rain on Sunday and Monday. Belize City, which is already below sea level, is known to be affected by higher tides around this time of the year, so the situation on the ground will be exacerbated. Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon says that extreme flooding is expected in the city. 

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist

“If the system is arriving with all the rainfall that we expect and then you combine those factors with the high tides and the fact that the city is already low, relatively speaking, it will sort of make the flooding situation worse, especially over Belize City. So that is indeed a concern that persons should be aware of and be prepared for. I would more focus on the most recent rains though, the rains that are starting now. So before this system arrives, we are expecting rains today, tonight, tomorrow again from the moist north-easterly flow and of course that amount of rainfall will cause the soil to be saturated and in addition to that you have the heavy rains that is coming within the bands from the system. So that will indeed sort of exacerbate the flooding situation.”