Chief Hydrologist Breaks Down the Scale of Saturday’s Flooding

Saturday’s floodwaters didn’t just rise; they pushed beyond what monitoring equipment in parts of the Cayo District could even measure. Chief Hydrologist Tennielle Hendy says the More Tomorrow flood station was effectively overwhelmed, as massive volumes of water moved through Belmopan, nearby communities, and other areas across the country. Tonight, Hendy breaks down just how much water came through, and what those figures tell us about the scale of the weekend flooding.

 

Tennielle Hendy, Chief Hydrologist

“For the station within the Cayo district that records flood levels is the More Tomorrow station which peaked above eleven meters on the twelfth of July. This was a sharp increase from about one point eight meters, to seven point five-five meters. It crested on the twelfth, beyond elven meters, because we don’t have gauges beyond eleven meters. So it exceeded the historical water levels in that section. The Iguana Creek also experienced rapid rise. In addition we have the Sibun River Basin that also had severe flood levels, where the water levels exceeded three point five meters at the Sibun. And lastly we had the Sittee River Basin which has experienced the second highest flooding. The river levels rose from about one point five meters on July ten to seven point seven meters at six a.m. on the eleventh of July.”

 

Floodwaters are now making their way northeast, towards Belize River Valley. We will tell you what residents in those areas should prepare for, later on in this newscast.

 

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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