TS Sara Related Flooding Affecting Rural Belize Days Later

Tonight, hundreds of residents in Belize River Valley are grappling with floodwaters that have surged in from western Belize. In Rancho Dolores, a community of two hundred and fifty villagers, everyone is hunkering down. The bridge leading into the village and a large stretch of the road are submerged. The river has been swollen for days, but it started rising rapidly overnight. Today, the Coast Guard had to step in to help residents receive basic necessities. During our visit, we saw floodwater creeping dangerously close to several homes, with a few already underwater. How long will the villagers be stuck? It’s anyone’s guess. News Five’s Paul Lopez visited the community today and filed this report.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Most days, you can easily drive to Rancho Dolores Village. But today, the road and the bridge leading to this rural community are completely submerged under water.

 

Rudolph Reyes, Resident, Rancho Dolores

“I live dah Rancho and ih come like this four, five different times. But, for the past ten years before ih come like this again.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What we are on right now is the road.”

 

Rudolph Reyes

“Yes, this is the road. It is right here this morning that the Coast Guard truck stuck. Well ih nuh stuck, ih shet down and they had to get something to haul it. But, if deh haul it back way it stuck. So, they get a tractor and ih the over that side right now.”

 

Coast Guard personnel were dispatched to help transport residents. Navigating from one side of the bridge to the village is no easy task. The boat captain carefully steers along the flooded road, getting as close to the bridge as possible before crossing the swollen river.

 

Howard Casasola, Petty Officer, B.C.G.

“The call came to us about sixteen hundred yesterday. We got our crew, got ready and we deployed from our base our three hundred hours this morning. It was a lot of water. It was not the way that we thought, because we were told that it was only small vehicles that cannot pass. But when we got here we realized we do need a vessel. So, we get a vessel to come to this location. We had a schedule that we are running from right now, that is four-thirty in the morning, five thirty and six thirty, then we take a break and come back at four o’clock, five fifteen and six forty.”

 

These residents gathered by the riverside, eagerly waiting for the Bowen and Bowen truck to deliver cases of soda and beer. When they got the call that the truck was on the other side of the bridge, they quickly deployed a canoe from the village. The entire exchange felt like a throwback to the old days, before there was a bridge in the area.

 

Jude Joseph, Resident, Rancho Dolores

“Actually this water start come down yesterday between couple hours and now ih the look fuh tek over the bridge and right now we just the wait fuh we lee soft drink and water. I wah tell yo, to be truthful, in 2020 we had the same amount of water for election 2020. And we wait atleast three months before we could walk cross the bridge. So, Christmas we the look pan right deh, that is our Christmas right there coming. No access cross unless you go and come in the boat.”

 

Christmas is weeks ahead. And it is the least of Martina Belisle’s concern today. Floodwaters have crept into her backyard, threatening to invade her home. The sight brought back memories of November 2020, when floodwaters rose several feet inside her house.

 

Martina Belisle, Resident, Rancho Dolores

“Every time it comes like this it’s the same headache I have, every time. But I cannot do better, because I have to move everting out of my house and I don’t know where I will lay my head right now. I the watch the water because ih mih deh right back deh, And yesterday is the most it has raised dah last night. I get up twelve oclock and check water and I get up again four o’clock and never gone back gone sleep. Same way I start to pack.”

 

Chairlady Elsita Gillett says classes were cancelled for the day in the community. The school is now being used as a shelter for residents. At least to one family has sought refuge here.

 

Elsita Gillett, Chairlady, Rancho Dolores

“Right now we have several homes that the water have not reached inside their home as yet, but the water is very close. We expect it to reach and continue to rise, we expect it to reach inside people’s home just like in 2020. We know every flood is different but we expect the same conditions if not worst. It is normally several feet down from the bridge. So for it to come this height we know it is a lot of water, and it is spreading.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.