And flooding all over Belize City
But Northern residents are not the only ones facing inundation. The rains in Belize City have also created flooding problems for residents directly behind the Lord Ridge Cemetery. They, however, have placed blame squarely on the Belize City Council citing the filling that started a few weeks ago on the back portion of the graveyard coupled with the lack of drainage installations. Marion Ali went to investigate.
Rosalee Arana, Partridge Street Resident
“The step done deh eena water. Ih di goh to the second step now.”
Marion Ali, Reporting
The yards of some residents on Partridge Street Extension look literally like small ponds. And what’s worrying them is that the water is likely to be contaminated.
Kenrick Major, Partridge Street Resident
“The burying ground noh done yet and deh di put body in deh soh most ah dah water deh di come right eena people yard. Some ah di septic deh under water, because like for instance like mine right deh, di water di run out ah the septic now.”
Rosalee Arana
“And the water dirty and ih stink, stink bad.”
According to the residents, before the filling of the back portion of the cemetery began, the water used to run off quickly. But the filling and the lack of drainage have posed major problems for their families.
Kenrick Major
“Three load ah clay I put deh and I need another two or three load right now. I mi di try put wah lee smaller house deh, but I can’t do nothing now. I have to wait almost wah month or two now fi try mek this go down—if ih gwein down right now too. Since the City Council start to fill up the burying ground dah wah whole lotta water start to settle.”
Fernando Pattison, Partridge Street Resident
“If the rain continue, well fah me wah get it. So dat dah weh we concern bout right now. If deh put the street behind we and deh put wah lee proper drain deh ih wah work but deh just di full the cemetery and noh di full the lee piece ah street weh deh deh soh the water have to di come.”
Rosalee Arana
“This is the street. This street is supposed to go all around, meeting the Cemetery over that side. We just want City Council come do something back yah fi wi.”
Rosalee Arana got her wish quickly because as soon as we called City Councillor responsible for streets and drains, Dean Samuels, he mobilized and by three this afternoon the first works had begun to create some drainage.
Dean Samuels, City Councillor
“The Councillor Wayne Usher, he is in charged of cemeteries, he is the person doing the filling—we need grave spaces. But again like weh I seh, it is a problem and we’ve created it and we need to solve it now because residents are being affected by this situation. But I personally, it is not something that I created, but I am here trying to rectify it and trying to fix it. The water has to be freed up from here so that when we clear up around the lane, the water would just flow out coming this way. This is just the beginning; it’s a lot of work. Really we’ve just call in some of our guys that are out there patching and we need the manpower right now cause like I said its pretty late and we need to get this done. So, we are beginning and as you can see we are clearing here. The technical people are out and we can ensure that we are trying to solve the problem for the residents in this area.”
Councillor Samuels says if his crew needs to work through the weekend to correct the problem they will. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.
Meanwhile the Councillor also appeals to residents to avoid blocking drains and culverts with debris or filling.
