The Belize River is the Vena Cava, Belize’s main vein. Historically and hydrologically it is the country’s most important water way. And it is also the biggest, fed by the greatest number of tributaries. It also has the largest network of streams- which is why tonight it is the final staging ground for the rush of flood waters rolling downstream from Cayo. All eyes are on the Belize River and today we found out why.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This evening Belize’s biggest inland waterway, the mighty Belize River was roaring beneath the Haulover Bridge forming a furious cycle of constantly churning eddies. And while the sight and volumes are a force to behold, three miles up the road it is a sight to fear as the swollen river’s currents and girth are lapping up and eroding the banks – and slowly eating away at the Northern Highway.

Rudolph Williams, Hydrologist
“I have always been concerned about that and I mentioned this more than once during this event that I have seen the erosion of the buffer between the road and the river and these things have a way of occurring under the banks and then they give us some surprises later on that we weren’t expecting. So like I said it has happened before on this highway just recently and it can happen again. So I would ask drivers to be cautious and be careful when travelling on the highway.

The advice everybody is to listen to the reports, do not go into water that you feel is unsafe for you because a small amount of water on a asphalt road can easily cause a vehicle to slide.”

Williams says this is the full force of flood waters which are causing mass inundation – even in the met office’s backyard.

Rudolph Williams,
“The peak of the wave is pushing the water down and at this time again we have the occurrence of a fallen tide and so the water has little obstruction getting out of the Belize River mouth.

The peak of the waves are approaching Boom at this time and so we continue to expect that that wave will move downstream towards the Ladyville, Lords Bank, Belize International Airport Area and on to Belize City under the Haulover Bridge. We expect that that will be probably sometime tomorrow or late tomorrow evening.”

Keith Swift,
So what can people in those areas expect?

Rudolph Williams,
“Okay they can expect that water levels will continue to rise. On the Northern Highway there is the possibility for it to go over but yet I still have not seen any reason to tell me yes it is going to go over. We have recently installed a gauge near the Williamson sewing factory where we are monitoring it and every time we pass there we have been monitoring it and making sure that we are top of it if it is going to go over the road. What we have found though is that near Manatee Lookout area along with the occurrence of the high tide the water has been trickling over that area and we can expect that this will reoccur as it occurred last night and this morning around the time of the high tide.”

Williams warns that the water won’t be going anywhere quickly.

Rudolph Williams,
“The rains that came for us, there was direct rainfall into the depression or the wetlands and those areas, some of them are only connected to the river during the flood waters. So as flood waters are leaving some of these areas, the water remains in these depressions or wetland areas and it takes a slower release from these areas. So you will not see these going away for a while and every little depression that is there, some of them are only partially connected to the river systems and have become full and are releasing very very slow.”

There is a high tide at 9:11 tonight and as Williams noted, the possibility for flooding is greatest when the tide is high. And as regards the stretch of road between Manatee Lookout and the airport junction, a Ministry of Works crew started working on a nearby culvert this evening to try and ease flooding.

And stay tuned for more about the flooding and how it’s affecting the Belize District; as we’ll take you out to Maypen where there’s been a small outbreak of water – borne illnesses.