Black Orchid Resort back on its feet after floods

It is almost a month since flood waters swept through the Belize River Valley and although the picture was bleak back then, the community in the Burrell Boom area is on its way back on its feet. Marion Ali reports from one of the resorts that were hardest hit.

Marion Ali, Reporting
This was how Black Orchid Resort in Burrell Boom Village appeared when we visited on October thirtieth during the height of the recent floods. The only dry access to the resort was by boat onto its riverbank, about twenty feet above the normal height of the river. Back then, everything was under water, from the restaurant and gift shop, the swimming pool – everything. The workers were sent home and the guests evacuated until the flood waters receded and business was put on hold.

But that was then, and the saying, “Oh what a difference a month makes” could very well apply as today when we revisited the resort, not only had the water receded to its normal level, but business was back on track and the place looked as though it was never hit by a flood. In fact, even tourists passed by in a boat on the now peaceful river which one month ago looked as if though a dam had burst. Owner and Manager, Douglas Thompson says he is glad things are back to normal.

Douglas Thompson, Owner, Manager, Black Orchid Resort
“We are open for business and we’re doing business. We have been full, as a matter of fact, for the last week. So the restoration was a success, we are back in business and we hope not to see another flood like that anytime soon but we have learned a lot form this flood. First of all, small plants could be saved. If we knew the extent of the damage that would be created by the floods, we would have uprooted plants and protected them.”

“My concern had been how long it would stay on the banks, not the fact that we had water. since the water has been very good, it has been very dry and with the northerly wind that has been blowing the water receded quickly and so we attacked the recovery immediately as the weather gave up an inch, we took it and we cleaned it. So by the time it was all gone, we were ready to open.”

Owner and Manager, Douglas Thompson says while there was no structural damage, he still suffered a significant loss.

Douglas Thompson
“I estimate our loss at about a hundred and forty thousand dollars in terms of refunds, in terms of replacing the landscaping. There’s a significant amount of top soil and other fill for the roads and for the pathways that we had to spend and we had to do it quickly. So we brought in a heavy workforce to achieve maximum impact in a short period of time. You wouldn’t be able to see any trace of the flood at all today except if you looked at the landscape where we lost a significant number of the smaller plants and we are in the process of replacing those but it will take a while for those to mature and to come back to full bloom, which is what we had before. But outside of that, you wouldn’t be able to identify the fact that there was a major flood here just couple weeks ago.”

Meanwhile, day time cook at Black Orchid, Evelina Dawson, is also glad to be back on the job.

Evelina Dawson, Cook, Black Orchid Resort
“It was full of water up to mi—I don’t know how you do it. But I go and come everyday, I do the cooking whilst the boss dehn do di cleaning up but it’s good.”

Marion Ali
“So weh unnu had to do? Explain to me.”

Evelina Dawson
“I had to start from the top, clean with lotta Clorox and citrus power, scrub brush; hard work. Everybody scrub and scrub. At least a week and two days because in here had a lotta fish and all different kinds of stuff from the flood. It wasn’t a good experience but I’ve been in it for a long time. But this time it was a tricky flood, believe me or not.”

Marion Ali
“Why?”

Evelina Dawson
“Because it come so fast. We neva expect dis kinda movement right.”

But even with the bad experiences, Thompson and Dawson say they would not want to live anywhere else. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

This is the second week that business is back to normal at the resort. Meanwhile, on Saturday residents of Calla Creek who were affected by the flood recently received household appliances from the CWU members of the Development Finance Corporation as well as the DFC Management. The items include beds, kitchen utensils, butane gas and small furniture.