Chalillo and Mollejon continue to overflow
With the system moving slowly, the west was the hardest hit and there was water everywhere—in some areas the highest to be seen in years—paralyzing businesses and interrupting the daily commute. Schools closed and the new public transportation system which in fact came into effect on Sunday was brought to a standstill as the water came down from the Maya Mountains. News Five’s Marion Ali got a bird’s eye view of the Chalillo dam and Mollejon facility and reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
This morning, there was water everywhere for as far as the eyes could see. The Belize River had swollen to almost record levels, inundating nearby communities and creating streams where roads should be. The aerial tour of the Belize and Cayo Districts gave us a good picture of just how much water had crept on land is considered high ground.
Even though this bridge in Cedar Bank was below the water, a little boy still waded his way across.
Further west the Roaring Creek Bridge was still submerged and vehicles were again being allowed to navigate their way across.
This was the approach to the Iguana Creek Bridge leading into Spanish Lookout. The site was astounding as the only way for Mennonite traders to get their produce across this broad body of water spanning the bridge and to the rest of the country was by canoe.
Spanish Lookout was completely severed by the flood as the only other entrance to that community – this ferry, was also out of commission. By our pilot’s reckoning, the water in this area was at least ten feet above normal, and the view of only house tops seem to support that calculation. Nearby, another huge section of a road had simply disappeared beneath the murky brown water.
In Benque Viejo Town the river was rushing rapidly and fiercely upstream. As was by now a familiar sight, it had also claimed a huge chunk of the road as river and street seemed to be one.
Here at the border with Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala, heavy duty personnel from across the neighbouring country tried to remove a huge log which had found its way beneath the bridge, and which had been creating significant hindrance in allowing the water to flow freely through.
Our voyage took us over the Mayan Mountains of Belize and first at the Mollejon Hydroelectric facility. The Macal River which passes through here was ever bubbly, though not boasting a record height. It was however, still causing a spillage of between five and six feet over the dam.
Operations Supervisor for Becol, David Reynolds, told News Five that whatever spill-overs the Mollejon and Chalillo Dams cannot control eventually flows down to San Ignacio. But, the levels have been slow to recede.
David Reynolds, Operations Supervisor, BECOL
“We had a slight decrease over Saturday into Sunday and last night we had a slight increase as we had more rains. But starting this morning we had roughly about point three inches of rain and presently the spilling of the dams are decreasing about quarter meter in four to six hours.”
Marion Ali
“Now in terms of the layman understanding what you just said, what does that mean in terms of height of flood as far as the river is concerned and how it will affect where they are in the communities around?”
David Reynolds
“Community-wise, I could see the other river, which is the Mopan River, creating all the havoc downstream. But when it comes to the Macal, its flow is decreasing. The water that you’re seeing out there is a combination of the tributaries plus Chalillo spillage. And it’s decreasing, it’s decreasing rapidly because it’s the Macal River that has a serious difference in elevation so all this is running off and you’ll have by tomorrow roughly half the flow in this river.”
But while that may be the case, it does not translate into a sudden decrease in the flood status, as news just a few miles away at Chalillo was not quite the same as BECOL’s Vice President of Operations, Stephen Usher, told us.
Stephen Usher, Vice President, Operations, BECOL
“If current conditions were like this where it stops raining or back to rainfall in the upper Macal which is more normal, then it would probably take a couple weeks for this to stop spilling completely. However, that’s happening because of the narrow spillway. If it was wider, for example, like Mollejon, it would have come up fast however, it would have gone down fast as well. What Chalillo does, it hold back that water and it releases it slowly. It will take a couple weeks before it goes down. Now if there’s another storm coming in then obviously, it will start going up again. However, we have never reached a level where there is concern even for the residents in San Ignacio where it would go as high as where it is right now.”
Usher says it will take a while for the flood waters to recede because the dam was designed to store the water up to a certain level and because it has no method of releasing excess water, it simply flows downstream towards San Ignacio.
Stephen Usher
“Chalillo impounds a height of thirty-five meters of water at the dam, so currently the height of the water from the river bed to the highest point right now approximately thirty-six point seven meters. However, one point seven meters is going over the spillway. Chalillo was designed also for flood control. The spillway that you’re seeing right now is an uncontrolled spillway. What that means is that water is impounded to a certain level. Once it goes above that level it’s spilled naturally. This dam is not equipped with floodgates. We don’t have floodgates. This dam is too small for floodgates.”
But while the water has been slow to retreat in the west, it has already begun to affect the Belize District, as was the case with our aerial view of Crooked Tree adjoining areas in the Belize District.
The excess water could very likely push northwards and begin to affect the Orange Walk District over the next few days. That, coupled with another weather system expected to cross over the northern portion of Belize in the approaching days does not spell good news for that portion of the country. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.
