7 News Belize

No Crossing the Kendall
posted (July 27, 2010)
While city residents tried to cope with navigating the flooded streets of Belize yesterday, commuters and motorists whose final destination required crossing the infamous Kendall bridge found out this morning that once again the old white elephant was living up to its name. Torrential rains up in the hills are said to be responsible for the flooding of the bridge which our sources say reached at one point to a level of 8 feet above the bridge. At 9 P.M. a flash flood caused flooding twelve inches above the bridge, but that water is said to have subsided within an hour and a half. But at Four Thirty this morning, the water began to rise again, this time up to a level of Seven to Eight feet above the bridge making it impassable for motorists. Seven News spoke with Roberto Ramirez, Operations Officer for the National Emergency Management Operations, who gave us an update on the status of the Kendall.

Voice of Roberto Ramirez, Operations Officer for the National Emergency Management Operations
"I got the report of the report somewhere around 5 o'clock in the morning that the river was rising and the bridge was cover under water. So from around 5 o' clock this morning until around minutes to 3 when it was officially open again for normal transportation to pass. That's quite a few hours that transportation was impassable."

Monica Bodden
"Were there operations to ferry people back and forth?"

Voice of Roberto Ramirez
"We have standard operating procedures for the Kendall because the Kendall has been down for the past 2 years and since then whenever the Kendall is down we have a group of people that are mobilize that entails police, ministry of works, the Belize Defence Force, NEMO personnel, Transport personnel, there is a standard operating procedures, once we know we foresee it is going to happen we deploy and we offer assistance hence forth. Sometimes the river is too far flowing and that is when we don't cross anyone at all because its completely unsafe. Like this morning it was about 10 feet above the causeway and it's totally unfair for our people to be in the water, its swift and running and very dangerous. At the present moment we expect this thunder storm to finish around midday as predicted by the Belize MET service and we speak I think the rain has slow down considerably. The water level has gone down and it's still receding. But at the present moment we are not expecting any more rains."

Seven News attempted to get a comment from the Ministry of Works, responsible for the bridge but were unable to reach anyone.

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