More Flood Warnings Issued Throughout Belize

This afternoon, Hurricane Beryl weakened from a category three to a category two storm; however, as Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon explained earlier in our newscast, the National Met Service is keeping an eye on the storm’s movements as it shows signs of strengthening. Flood warnings have been issued for areas under storm watch, as urban and flash flooding is expected in various parts of the country. Principal Hydrologist Tenielle Hendy explains.

 

Tenielle Hendy, Principal Hydrologist, NHS

“We have a flash flood warning for the coastal road and for it to be a little bit more specific we’re speaking in the areas of the Sibun Bridge located in La Democracia Village up until the Gales Point cut off. So we’re advising residents and motorists who are in this area to exercise extreme caution. When they’re using this coastal highway. We also have a flood alert, which means that flooding is possible and you need to be prepared. And Sibun River at Freetown Sibun. Of course, the Sibun River runs through from the west all the way down to just south of Belize City in the Deepwater Port area. So we’re asking for communities in these areas just to remain alert and to stay tuned to our advisories so that we can make the best decisions when determining our traveling arrangements. We also have a flood warning in effect for the Belize and Corozal districts, and we’re not only speaking about the major river systems that are in these districts, but we’re also speaking about tributaries, meaning rivers, creeks, and streams that are associated with those larger river systems. We expect urban flooding to occur on those systems. The rainfall that has been occurring in late June in Mexico, we’re now seeing those rivers coming into the country via the trans boundary influence, and we expect this to continue occurring until they’ve basically exited their countries coming into us, we’re at the, as a downstream country. With the passage of Beryl in that same area again, we can expect this to continue happening or occurring for the upcoming days ahead. In central coastal Belize district, the coastal road, as I mentioned before, we’re seeing very saturated Soil levels and this is a contributing factor for flash flooding as well as the rainfall volumes. We will keep monitoring these different conditions and we will update and advise accordingly via our daily flood forecast.”