Floodwaters and High Tide Inundate Belize City Streets  

Over the weekend and leading up to this morning, it appeared as if Belize City experienced a tropical storm that dropped at least four inches of rain fall. Streets across the city were flooded, but there has been little to no rain in sight for the past few days, in fact it has been extremely dry and hot. So, what explains the flooded streets? The speculations were that an unusually high tide came in and inundated the streets with water. Well, the National Hydrological Service is saying that the flooding is because of both the high tide and floodwaters swelling the banks of the Belize River and Haulover Creek. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Streets across Belize City have been inundated with water for the past three days. But there has been little to no rainfall. Sharon Gullap lives on Mex Avenue. She has lived at this exact location for several decades. She is now witnessing something she says she has not seen all her life.

 

Voice of: Sharon Gullap, Belize City Resident

“The water I coming up pretty high. It comes about four or five inches across the bridge. My neighbor over there, it is like about to go in her house. Over there, it is totally downstairs. The alley there, it is totally filled. They cant even walk through it. These are all new happenings for us, not just hightide. When Belize have floods or hurricanes, we know that happen. But, I have been here, many years, over sixty years and this is new happenings.”

 

When we arrived at Gullap’s home this morning, the water had receded partially. She placed a wooden pallet to access her property. She also had to clog some pipes to prevent flooding on the first floor. King Street, Dean Street, areas of Port Loyola and Belama all saw flooded streets and yards. Residents initially suspected that this was being caused by an abnormal high tide over the past three days. But the National Hydrological Service says otherwise.

 

Carmelita Blanco, Hydrologist, National Hydrological Service

“The flooding that is currently being experienced in Belize City is as a result of the riverine flooding since the Belize River is making its way naturally down the riverine system and emptying out into the Haulover Creek. So, all the areas that are along the Haulover Creek are the areas that are currently experiencing the flood.”

 

Paul Lopez

“There are some suggestions that it could be as a result of hightides, I don’t know if you are hearing that.”

 

Carmelita Blanco

“Yes, that is in the areas found more in the Marine Parade area. That is where the interaction with the hightides comes into play.”

 

According to Blanco, excess rainfalls experienced last week led to the Belize River reaching flood stage. She advises residents to continuously monitor the situation as they are unable to provide an exact time period for the river to return to its average height.

 

Carmelita Blanco

“So all this rain allowed the Mopan River, Macal River reach a bank full stage. As we know, the Macal and the Mopan River form the Belize River. So, all this water needs more space, more room for it to flow. So, since it has arrived at maximum capacity, that is what allows this overflow to take place. What I would advise residents is to continue monitoring the flood forecast that is being issued everyday.”

 

But for Sharon Gullap and her neighbors, this explanation may provide little to no sense of comfort. Her home is situated near the Belize City Pumping Station. Only last week, the street that runs parallel to hers, Myvett Street, was completely under water.

 

Sharon Gullap

“Since they did the streets everything started acting different, and since they put that thing there at Yabra it is a whole different thing cause this, I would want to blame it on that, because we never see it before. Give it two hours, it would be there, then it goes down and it comes back up. But we were not having any rain, but now we are going to have some rain, so I don’t know what is going to happen. I am sure climate change has a lot to do with a lot of what is happening, but this drainage, we need drains. I think Belize needs drainage. We don’t have drainage.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.