A Sudden Whirlwind Tears Through Lake-I, Several Properties are Damaged

On Sunday evening in Belize City, a vortex in Lake-I destroyed several homes, as it made its way across part of the community.  The neighborhood most impacted was the area near McKay Boulevard, where the whirlwind pulled apart roofs, knocked down fence and threatened to topple power lines.  It came and went quickly and left in its wake a trail of disaster for residents who already living in abject conditions.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Christopher McKoy, Belize City Resident

“You don’t have a piece of mind when you don’t have a place to call home.  You know, everybody wants somewhere to call home, you know, and everybody’s children also deserve a somewhere to call home.  This was our home and, as you can see, it has been destroyed.”

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Fifty-year-old Christopher McKoy is a father of five.  On Sunday evening, a whirlwind tore through certain parts of Lake Independence severely damaging his home and leaving his family temporarily displaced.

Christopher McKoy

Christopher McKoy

“I was in the house with mi common-law wife and mi kids and I was getting ready fi mek something fi eat and then I just start feel wahn shake, the house start shake.  Soh I mi think nothing of it, maybe da just wahn lee breeze.  I mi know wahn storm mi suppose to come through.  And then afta that ih start shake harder.  So my fourteen-year-old mi deh eena di living room, I tell ahn, “Hurry go get yoh bredda cause he di sleep.”  Ih sista mi deh eena di room and he run fi get ih bredda, same time wahn zinc blow up.  Ih fly offa di back ah my house, and di storm look like ih come hard and start shake.  I try open di door and I couldn’t open the door because something mi deh backa it or something, soh I stomp di door open.  Same time I stomp di door open we ran out and when we ran out, di whole house lean and dropped and water start come eena di house.”

McKoy wasn’t the only resident in this community to have suffered structural damages to his property.  At the corners of Miller Street and McKay Boulevard, several blocks over, the spinning column of air wreaked havoc in the area, tearing off roofs and knocking down fences.

Voice of: Miller Street Resident

“I came to my screen door and when I came to the screen door, all I heard was [whirling sound] and then when I looked across the street I saw that the roof across the street flew away and then when I looked to the house, next to that house, I saw that the zinc was skinned back.  And then that was when I came outside and realized that the house across the river was also damaged.”

It all happened rather quickly, McKoy, his children and his wife were not prepared for the freak storm that caught them flatfooted.  He is appealing for assistance to repair what remains of his inundated home.  In the wake of the sudden disaster, the laborer and his two sons have been forced to sleep in an outdoor bathroom that belongs to his neighbors.

Christopher McKoy

“When I went back, try go back in the house, everything was just filled up with water, all the mattress, everything was just messed up with water, you know.  God is good because I thank God, you know, because it could have been a lot worse.  One ah we coulda get hurt, you know.  The hardest part about this whole thing for me is that, you know, I work hard, you know.  Even when ah noh di work, I go round with my machine and try cut yard, me and mi son, we deh all about, sometime di look fi yard fi cut and ah just, before we were staying in this house, we mi live eena wahn bathroom-size house, wahn small lee bathroom size house, seven ah we, my kids and my common-law wife mi di live in a wahn lee bathroom-size house and some good people found out our situation and they helped us and assisted us in building this place.”

According to a resident of Miller Street who spoke under the condition of anonymity, police response following the incident was fairly prompt.

Voice of: Miller Street Resident

“As it happened, a while after, the police came and then afterwards a van came.  I don’t know who it really was but I know police came out of the van too and then you had people that were dressed in civilian clothes, so I am not sure who they were and then a while after, B.E.L. came and so they are on the scene now.”

Paul Lopez

“About what time was this?”

Voice of: Miller Street Resident

“It was a little after six, I think.”

In McKoy’s case, he is asking for help from anyone willing to lend a hand in rebuilding his home.  He can be contacted at phone number 621-7792. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.