Last week, we took you on the Belize River to show you how the Valley Community in Belize Rural North was being affected. The heavy rains of the weekend before had inundated the entire country, and all the floods from the Cayo District rolled into the Belize River Valley.
Well during the course of the last 48 hours, those flood waters rolled past Flowers bank Village. It caused major flooding of the main road into the village, and the only bridge in and out was under water. To add to that, there have been intermittent rains all across the country over the last 24 hours.
Flowers Bank does not have grocery shops, and so the 36 families who live there are forced leave out of the village to get food supplies. But, since they are cut off due to the flood, NEMO went in with rations today to distribute and provide them with assistance.
NEMO Minister Edmond Castro, who is their Area Representative, spoke with us today. He told us that the Ministry is trying to be pro-active avoid any incidents or loss of life or property because the villagers would be forced to leave to get their groceries:
Hon. Edmund Castro, Minister of State - NEMO
"Flowers Bank and the River Valley communities are normally the last sets of villages to get affected by the flood, especially when the water leaves from out of the Cayo District - have to pass down this way. So what we are experiencing now is the last set of back water that are coming down the river that is now affecting Flowers Bank. And if you notice on the road coming to Flowers Bank, the bridge was covered with over a foot of water and still is it seems like to me. And so now to prevent the villagers from going out which they normally do their shopping day on Friday - we decide to come in and assist the villagers as flood victims, with some groceries to eliminate that situation of all the villagers going out and try to make the situation worse. The worst thing that could happen for us as NEMO is to see something - an accident waiting to happen and do nothing."
Calbert Budd, NEMO Coordinator - Belize Rural
"As you can see we have beans, rice, flour, milk, cooking oil - that's all."
Daniel Ortiz
"How long will it last them if they are stranded here for an extended period of time?"
Calbert Budd, NEMO Coordinator - Belize Rural
"Well hopefully that will not last them too long. But it's a little help to save them from have to walk through that water every day to go out to look for a shop. Because if you notice you don't have shops back here, so everybody who lives here have to go either Burrell Boom, Belize City or Bermudan Landing or somewhere to pick up whatever they need."
Clinton Rhaburn, Chairman - Flowers Bank
"I look upon it this way that everyone in the community are affected somewhere or the other. Because they can't get out, they can't get in. They can't even get to their farm and some of their farms are under water. So I made it clear that I believe that if we give one, it's better to give all. Because everybody is affected by this flood."
Daniel Ortiz
"What if critics take the point that they are enjoying extra attention from you because they are your voters?"
Hon. Edmund Castro, Minister of State - NEMO
"But that is rightly so. I love them and they love me and even when I was not the person responsible for NEMO, I was the person in charge of the NEMO Belize District. If you notice the way we work, we don't shy from work. If the thing was in PG, we would be there. If it is Corozal, we would be there. If it's at the cayes, we would be there - wherever. As the minister responsible for NEMO, I don't wait for anyone to come and tell me "this is the situation or this is happening" - I go and see for myself."
Of important note is that yesterday, hundreds of school children could not go to school in San Jose, Toledo because the bus owners would not risk their buses on the bad road. So, the students had to stay home.
As you may remember, this is the same bad road that our news team encountered when we went to the village looking for the family of baby Suzette Caac, who almost drown.
| 