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NEMO In Griga Was In Front Of the Flood
posted (June 18, 2013)
A major part of the Stann Creek District's excellent response was that the NEMO Hub in Dangriga was very active and vigilant, watching every move of Tropical Depression 2.

Today, we spoke to the Mayor of Dangriga Town, who is also the chairman of the Stann Creek Emergency Committee, and he gave us a full report on their activities since yesterday.

Here's what he told us:

Mayor Gilbert Swazo - Chairman, Stann Creek Emergency Committee
"Earlier this morning about 3:00 we recieved word that there were people on the Mullins river who needed to be evacuated. Again we immediately coordinated through NEMO, through Coast Guard who then subsequently deployed a vessel and we also placed an alert - one shelter, Parish Hall within Dangriga with the view to house and shelter those evacuees from Mullins River. There were 49, however, I must report that right now while the coast guard has arrived at the destination at Mullins River, we have no confirmation that the people have now been extracted but the shelter remains open and the shelter management team prepared to support those evacuees from Mullins River. Amongst the other reports that we received is that the Mullins river bridge is compromised and the coastal road is under water as a result of the bridge being compromised and the fact that the road is severely under water. That road has now been declared again in concurrence with NEMO - it is now closed for vehicular traffic. There is also a culvert on the Southern Highway which is compromised and again the Ministry of Works are on scene doing rehabilitation works with a view then that we could open the road for continuous traffic. Those areas are critical arteries to provide supplies to our people, to the villagers in those communities that are not impacted.

Hope Creek, Sarawee has been impacted so it's obvious that Dangriga is next. As early as this morning about 1:00 there were teams that were sent out with a view to ascertain what level of impact has affected Dangriga. It is note then that we are in the New Site 1 area so this area and New Site 2 are the areas that are severely affected in Dangriga. Also Lakeland and the Rivas estate is impacted and Benguche is also impacted."

The Stann Creek Emergency Committee remains active at this hour until NEMO declares that the flood threat is a non factor. After that happens, they committee will be surveying the communities to see what sort of relief it can provide.

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