And vulnerable is just how city residents felt – after water started creeping into their homes. Around 1:00 am, after five hours of non-stop rain, many distress calls went into 9-1-1 – which in turn called the city council – which was not expecting such a serious weather event and had no contingencies in place. Well, that won't happen again tonight; they say they are ready – after learning of those distress calls last night:..
Wayne Usher - CEMO Liaison Officer
"People were calling from King Street, Western Avenue, Jane Usher Boulevard, Euphrates Avenue - publicly asking what to do about the waters that were reaching up to their beds in their homes and if the council had any plans to open any shelters because they were fearing from the rising waters. We had a member of staff at the Belize City Council who was exactly in that predicament and we asked that person to please tell us what she did. She monitored the water levels rising, she took all her children unto one bed, she phoned to see if her pastor was available because if need be she would have gone to the church but he wasn't available. Her mother who lives next door was also flooded so she couldn't go there. She related to us what several other people were feeling last night and experiencing so the council had to do something - we can't just leave things like that to happen, hence our meeting this morning. We will now set in place what happens from here on in the event of a flood situation in Belize City."
Phillip Willoughby - City Councilor - CEMO
"There will be a partial activation of the Belize City EOC here at our head office, whereby an emergency task force will be put into operation to provide logistical support where needed for residence of the city to evacuate. Police officers will be assigned to our EOC at 5:00 o'clock to provide security services as we implement and execute the plan of action. The contact numbers are for any resident of Belize City to contact us here at the EOC - 227-2308, 227-2622, 227-2308, 227-3073 and 227-7205. After communicating with the EOC or the various other agencies who provide emergency support - they will be then transported the the Bishop Sylvester Memorial Center where they will be housed for a short period of time."
Those numbers again are:
227-2308
227-2622
227-3073
227-7205.
Those going to the shelter will have to take their own provisions. In the medium term, the city plans to set up an Emergency Response Team. Additionally, in the future, the MET Office will contact the city council when extreme weather is a possibility….
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