2 weeks ago
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Over the past weekend, the country was impacted by the passage of a tropical wave that brought significant rainfall to the central and southern portions of Belize. Earlier this afternoon, a joint press briefing was held by the National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, alongside the National Meteorological Service of Belize and the National Hydrological Service of Belize. During the briefing, the Chief Meteorological Officer highlighted the passage of the tropical wave and the rainfall activity recorded across the country.
Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist: “Over the weekend we had a tropical wave that crossed the country on Saturday. That system came along with a very strong low level jet, as we refer to it, strong winds in the atmosphere and there was also upper level support for the system to produce significant rainfall especially over the Belmopan area, the Cayo district. In terms of numbers we recorded in a matter of about 12 hours, Belmopan got 273.4 millimeters which is 10.8 inches of rainfall in just about 12 hours from about midnight until about midday. To put that in perspective, the average rainfall for Belmopan is about 245 millimeters for month of July which is 9.7 inches. So the capital the city recorded more than its monthly average in just 12 hours. Historically, this is not the highest that the city has seen. On June 19, 2002, we recorded 334 millimeters of rainfall, which is 13.1 inches. So even though it’s a significant amount of rain it didn’t break a historical record overall for Belmopan. Other notable areas, stations, La Gracia which is just a few miles to the north west of Belmopan got 8.5 inches, and Hershey got 8.4 inches. So in that general vicinity we saw significant amount of rainfall in a very short time period from this system. The system has moved away, the tropical wave moved away. We got improvement in weather conditions yesterday, Sunday and up to this morning. However, there’s another tropical wave approaching which will cross the country tomorrow or later tomorrow night. That system is already producing some moisture over the area and we have seen some rainfall returning, especially over the southern two thirds of the country this morning into this afternoon and we expect those to continue and increase tonight into tomorrow with some more showers and thunderstorms expected. Model prediction are going for about two to three inches maximum. We got to be very careful. The models are not picking up these extreme rainfalls. So that 10 over 10 inches of rainfall that Belmopan saw was not even registered in any model that we saw. They are not picking up those extremes. So it’s always important for residents to know that when we give you a forecast the model is just a guidance and we can sometimes get much more than those models are saying.”
Principal Hydrologist Tenielle Hendy represented the National Hydrological Service at the briefing and spoke on the areas that reported flood levels over the weekend.
Tennille Hendy, Principal Hydrologist: “We do have several watersheds that were severely impacted by the excessive rainfall events, primarily the Belize River Basin, which comprises the Belmopan City, the outskirts of what we call Belmopan City or greater Belmopan City area as well as some stations downstream. So for the station within the Cayo district that received flood levels is the More Tomorrow station which peaked above 11 meters on the 12th of July. And this was a sharp increase from about 1.8 meters to 7.55 meters. That is the 13th. It crested on the 12th beyond 11 meters because we don’t have gauges beyond that 11 meter. So it exceeded the historical water levels in that section. The Iguana Creek also experience rapid rise. In addition we have the Sibun River basin that also had severe flood levels where the the water levels exceeded 3.5 meters at the Sibun and this was a linear increase in the water levels. And lastly we have the Sittee River Basin which has experienced the second highest increase, the river levels rose from about 1.5 meters on July 10th, so 7.7 meters by 6 a.m. on the 11th of July.”
National Emergency Coordinator Daniel Mendez highlighted the activation of the Belmopan Emergency Operations Center once flood conditions were noted.
Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO: “Noting the rainfall, flood conditions were registered in the Belmopan area which you have seen the images of. As a result, the Belmopan Emergency Operations Center was activated and work began with the Belmopan City Council and has continued up to today. NEMO remains in close coordination with the National Meteorological Service and the National Hydrological Service our district emergency centers and other authorities to monitor evolving conditions. In Belmopan we have been conducting assessments over the weekend and we have been providing assistance to communities and persons who were affected by flooding. We are also continuing our work to determine the extent of the impact and to continue to identify immediate needs of persons in these areas. The information gathered from these assessments will guide response and recovery efforts and ensure that assistance is directed to the communities and persons most in need. As of this morning, we have conducted over a hundred assessments within the Cayo District and some in the Stann Creek District. We have also been working in the Toledo District as well providing support to communities who were affected in that area. NEMO continues to closely monitor communities along the Belize River Valley as we expect these river levels to rise over the next 24 to 48 hours based on the assessments provided to us by the National Hydrological Service. Our district emergency operations centers in Belmopan remain open. In Toledo, we continue to support those communities and those remain on partial activation and we are preparing the Belize Rural Emergency Operations Center in anticipation for any potential flooding conditions which we may see. We, our communities remain on standby and we remain ready to provide support if any additional flooding continues.”
The National Emergency Coordinator also urged farmers and livestock owners to implement their emergency plans, to help protect livestock, crops and equipment. Families in low-lying areas were also encouraged to safeguard important documents and household items. NEMO reminds the public that the country remains in Hurricane Season, and is urging everyone to stay vigilant and keep their hurricane preparedness plans ready.
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