Belize City to Corozal District Under Tropical Storm Watch

Hurricane Beryl is now a category four hurricane as it barrels its way towards Jamaica where it is expected to make landfall into tomorrow. Earlier this morning, forecast models indicated a slight shift north in the storm’s projected path. Not much has changed with those projections throughout the course of today. As of six p.m., a tropical storm watch will be declared for Belize City all the way to Corozal. There is still a great deal of uncertainty as to where exactly Hurricane Beryl will make landfall, but it is expected to weaken and is already seeing decreased wind speeds. Hurricane Beryl will likely make landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula or Northern Belize as a category one hurricane. Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon gave us the latest this afternoon.

 

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist, NMS

“The Hurricane continues to move rapidly west, north westward at twenty-two miles per hour and maximum sustained winds have decreased slightly. It is now a category four hurricane, a strong category four hurricane with maximum sustained winds of a hundred and fifty-five miles for hour. The latest satellite imagery I saw from Beryl is that the eye has become a bit more rapid, indicating that the system has been weaking due to the vertical wind shear and that is starting to affect the system. It would seem that the northern part of the country if it follows the most probable path will be the one on the fringes of tropical storm force winds. If it follows the worst case scenario and moves further south then of course hurricane force winds will affect that part of the country. The forecasted weakening indicates that at land fall it will be a category one hurricane. That is anywhere between seventy-four and ninety-five miles per hour, in terms of wind speeds and along with that we expect heavy rainfall near the center along with bands extending further out and of course storm surge to the north of the country which we don’t expect to impact the country of Belize.”

 

Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO

“We have been watching the system closely alongside the met service. WE have continued our preparations across the country. All the national committees met this morning to formulate a plane that we will implement across the country in case it is needed. At this time we remain on standby. All of our district committees remain on alter and will be prepared to mobilize in the next few days as we watch the development of Hurricane Beryl heading our way.”