Freak storm damages Shipyard

Most of the country experienced the effects of severe thunderstorms on Thursday night, starting in the north and heading south. There are reports of extremely strong winds, lightning, heavy rains and in the north, a hailstorm was experienced in the afternoon. The freak weather, coming on the heels of an intense heat wave has passed, but it has left significant damage in its wake. The Shipyard Mennonite community in the Orange Walk district felt the full effects of the thunderstorm at around eight pm, and today although there was some effort already underway to effect repairs, it will take the community some time to return to normal. Freelance reporter Mike Rudon headed north for the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

The Mennonite community of Shipyard is divided up into camps, and just minutes after entering it the effects of the severe winds experienced during the thunderstorm was easy to see. All along the way sheets of twisted zinc took the place of cows in pastures, and heavy trees and branches lay on the ground where the wind had tossed them.

In Camp forty, home of about twenty-five families, there were signs of more significant damage. The entire roof of this small home was blown away, with the zinc scattered about nearly one hundred feet away. And a quarter mile down the road, we came upon this chicken shed which was completely demolished. There we found Peter Banman from Camp twenty. He had come to check on his daughter who takes care of this farm.

Peter Banman, From Camp 20

“A strong wind and lot of rain and so the damage on the house; it broke the house down.

Mike Rudon

“They are saying that winds were stronger than a hurricane.”

Peter Banman

Peter Banman

“She told me that. That the winds were so very strong that everything ahd to broke down.”

Mike Rudon

“So what kinda losses are we talking about here—in terms of money and all the…”

Peter Banman

“I’m not too sure, but the structure cost about twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars.”

Mike Rudon

“In camp twenty, there was nothing?”

Peter Banman

“My stone house, it ripped up the verandah, but we are fixing that already. Some places more where they have damages but not so heavy as this.”

There were seven thousand chickens in this shed when the winds came, and we were told that about one thousand were killed. The rest were taken to be slaughtered this morning. Across the street we came across more damage, and also John Banman, who lives in Camp forty-one. He was at home when the storm hit.

John Banman

John Banman, Camp 41

“When I reach home, it was just lightning and it was just for a little while. And then breeze starts. And when breeze start, about five to ten minutes later, my roof fall. Just when I start to be afraid what will happen, I went into my little concrete building which I used for bathroom. It has concrete roof so I went in there with my family and we were safe in there. But we went in there only for seconds when the roof falls off.”

From there we headed to Camp 14. There are three chicken sheds on this piece of land, but only one stood up to the winds last night. In the larger shed, there were four thousand chickens, but now only the carcasses of those which didn’t survive remain. In this smaller shed there is more of the same…the Mennonites tending the land told us that they worked until two this morning to relocate the six thousand chickens who survived.

We were told that each of the sheds which fell were valued at between twenty-five to thirty-five thousand dollars.

By afternoon, the rebuilding had started on the homes which were damaged, but it will be some time before things are completely back to normal in the small community of Shipyard. Mike Rudon for News Five.

There was also some damage reported in the Los Lagos community in the Belize District.