Chief Hydrologist Warns River Valley Residents to Stay Alert

Floodwaters that swamped the west over the weekend are now racing toward the Belize River Valley, and they’re moving faster than usual. Chief Hydrologist Tennielle Hendy says some communities in rural Belize District are already feeling the impact, just twenty-four hours after heavy flooding hit the Cayo District. In past events, that west-to-east movement took several days, but this time the water is arriving much sooner. And Hendy warns that more floodwater is still on the way, putting Belize River Valley communities on alert tonight.

 

Tennielle Hendy, Chief Hydrologist

“The Belize River Valley Area is already seeing increased river levels. At Bermudian Landing it is already at almost bank full stage up to our last report. At Double Run which is a bit further down towards Belize City it is bank full stages. So, there are already seeing some of the flood waters travelling downstream. But it is not all. More Tomorrow is still at ten meters, so that has not returned back to what we consider normal, so residents can expect to see more waters coming down the Belize River. The timing is a bit challenging, because the volume of water dictates the pace. So what we have seen is that it normally takes about three days from More Tomorrow to reach the Belize River Valley. We have seen that in as little as twenty-four hours since that event we are seeing increasing flood levels. This event does not follow predictable timeframes; it is moving a bit faster.”

 

We also asked Hendy about possible flooding in Crooked Tree Village. She says residents should stay on high alert, but flood levels are not expected to make the causeway impassable.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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