Remnants of Hurricane Agatha Move Away From Belize

Just a day ago, the forecast for remnants of Hurricane Agatha was that they would reformulate and dump considerable rainfall over the region, causing flooding in mostly northern Belize. Agatha, a category two hurricane, was the strongest storm to form over the Pacific in the month of May. It belted the southern coast of Mexico two days ago, leaving eleven people dead and thirty-three missing in flooding and mudslides. And, while it was forecasted to re-emerge somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico and likely threaten Belize; the probability of that happening has significantly reduced overnight. Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon told us that we can breathe a little easier at least for now.

Ronald Gordon

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist, National Meteorological Service

“The remnants of Agatha gradually moved across Mexico and the Yucatan and is emerging into the northwestern Caribbean Sea at the moment. Indeed, Belize was caught up in the broad moist flow surrounding that system and that was indeed part of the reason why we have been having heavy rainfall over the past few days. With Agatha having moved now or almost emerging into the waters, there is a high chance that it may be developing into a tropical depression, but the projection is for that system to move to the northeast – away from Belize, away from the Yucatan – and head towards Cuba and Florida, so in terms of our weather, we could expect that the rainfall will gradually decrease and the flooding also decreasing. 0:24:09Oaxaca State Governor, Alejandro Murat said the death toll and the number of those missing were still preliminary. In the town of San Isidro del Palmar, the Tonameca River overflowed, forcing residents to wade through neck-deep water to retrieve whatever belongings were still salvageable from their homes.”