Last night, we took you deep into southwestern Toledo, to San Jose Village, one of the many communities inundated by the floods due to the weekend rains. That's where 2 month-old baby, Suzette Adelicia Caac almost lost her life after falling from a man's arms while he tried to cross a flooded bridge.
While there is a collective sigh of relief that the infant did not perish, the near tragedy has given us an opportunity to take a snapshot of what residents of the remote villages in the south face whenever there is any kind of rain.
Today, Daniel Ortiz took a closer look at what elements are at play and how the villagers risk their lives to travel around whenever they face flooding. Here's that story:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
This stream didn't look threatening yesterday, but during the weekend, it was the location where 2 month-old baby Suzette Adelicia Caac could have lost her life.
The rains had turned it into a coursing waterway, much like this one which I was crossing to verify that our news team could actually make it into San Jose Village.
Yes, what you're looking at is a low-lying bridge covered by floodwaters. We're told it had gone down significantly.
This was the tough choice facing Baby Suzette, her mother Adelia Shol, and other villagers who wanted to travel from Santa Cruz Village to their home in San Jose.
It doesn't look like much of a choice. At one entrance, they were sort of trapped by a stream that has long washed away the bridge.
At the other entrance, where our news team passed, the water was so high that no one could actually wade through it because they would have been washed away.
So, they chose the lesser of the two evils, but the baby's mother suspected that it would be too dangerous. A helpful villager from Red Bank convinced her that he could keep the baby safe while he crossed the stream with her.
Yesenia Ca-ac - Baby Suzette's Sister
"Red Bank, my mother didn't want to give the baby to Red Bank and my mother will try to pass it, but Red Bank hurry took my mother in her head and my mother don't want to give the baby. I will go sleep in San Antonio. I don't want to go, my mother said, but Red Bank hurry took the baby."
He reportedly tried his best to get across this stream with the baby, and had a mishap: He lost his footing, and the baby fell.
Yesenia Caac, sister of Suzette Adelicia Caac
"The man is catching the baby good, but he just slipped and that's why."
Daniel Ortiz
"Who caught the baby?"
Yesenia Caac, sister of Suzette Adelicia Caac
"He catch the baby on the water. The baby just drop on the grass and the lady catch her again, but she didn't drop her on the grass."
There are varying accounts of how much danger Baby Suzette was in. Her family says that she fell right beside the water, and other passengers immediately rescued her before she could be carried away by the flood. Others say that she was actually submerged, and was rescued almost immediately.
Whichever is accurate, the fact remains that a newborn's life was almost lost due to the terrible condition of the roads and low-lying bridges which imperils the lives of villagers whenever there is flooding.
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