That's a human emergency, and with weeks to go before an election, also a political one. So, the floods prompted a prime ministerial press conference on Sunday. PM Barrow told the media that this is a natural disaster and requires the urgent attention it will receive.

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"What is happening is a disaster, is a crisis, as precipitate an emergency small "E." We of course give thanks for the fact that as bad as it is, it could have been worse. I know that there is a state of emergency declared in neighboring Quintana Roo. We hear of bridged collapsing in Guatemala. So that of the areas that have been most directly affected, we in Belize seemed to be comparatively better off. Perhaps that's not the way to frame it. We are not as badly off as other areas in the other two countries. My senses is that the City Of Belize has been hardest hit. From what I gather, from what I can tell, both in terms of the messages that gave been sent, the briefings I've been given, the updates I've been provided with, NEMO and CEMO have done very well in deed in trying to cope initially with the problems."

Godwin Hulse, Minister of NEMO
"We have some difficulties there and in Orange Walk we have shelters there as well. We have some flooding in the North; in San Pablo and San Jose area and we are monitoring it. The waters there continue to rise. In the south, as Prime Minister mentioned we had an issue with Hope Creek and Sarawee, but the water has receded. Reports about 10 minutes ago that it is rising again, but we don't expect any significant rise. This is run offs from the various creeks that are coming down. I was in the area yesterday late."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We will do everything that is required to put things back in a state of proper repair to assist those that have been affected with whatever the needs are."

So, how will this relief be rolled out? Well the Prime Minister and NEMO Minister Godwin Hulse explained that to us in detail:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The Ministries of Housing, of Human Development and of Works will be the principal instrumentalities though which we will operate to ensure that infrastructural we do all that is required. Socially, in terms as I said providing things such as food stuff, clothing, bedding, whatever may be necessary. We will have the officials of the Ministry of Human Development completely on top of that. And in terms of our having heard about roofs having blown off one or two houses, having fallen down, the Ministry of Housing will be assisting NEMO and in some cases perhaps acting as the lead agency almost in terms of operationally getting the work done."

Godwin Hulse, Minister of NEMO
"We have already activated all our NEMO warehouses to provide food and that is already in chain for persons in these shelters. So both the warehouse in Belmopan, the warehouse in Ladyville and the warehouse in Orange Walk have been opened and the personnel in charge are already on their way with respect to feeding people in these shelters wherever they are."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"There must absolutely be no slippage at all with respect to the operational efficiency and the comprehensiveness of the response that I am committing the government to this afternoon."

Earlier in the news, you heard Mayor Darrell Bradley defending the effectiveness of his Council's flood mitigation program. But, did the one hundred plus concrete streets contribute to it? As you've seen in this newscast, Mayor Bradley has defended the structure of his council's program by explaining that the streets were in very bad condition, and putting in the required drainage would have been far outside the Council's budget, even with the 20 Million-Dollar Municipal Bond.

The Prime Minister was more willing to concede that drainage has to be a Government priority for Belize City:

Godwin Hulse, Minister of NEMO
"Mr. Bradley has advised us that 4 engineers are being deployed in the city to look at the flooding situation and I will simply say this that when I was in engineering school. One professor said to me 'floods are the best thing, because it tells you where your drains needs to go.' So we will be able to see what areas need to be cleared out etc. We hope it doesn't get any worse and we call for the corporation of everybody because we are in this together. As the Prime Minister has mentioned, the resources have been provided to NEMO, so there is no question that our object is of course is the safety of all our Belizean citizens and of course to keep them safe, is our first priority and then we will look at other needs as they may arise."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"You will know that when the concreting program first started in the city, it was not a companied by the kind of comprehensive drainage program that would have been ideal in the circumstances. There were always financial constraints and we started playing catch-up after a little while though and I think we made tremendous progress with respect to drainage. But we will see what the story is after the rains are over and the waters have receded. On a longer term basis, government will also address whatever shortcomings will be disclosed at the end. But naturally we are more concerned now with the immediate remedial problems."

Elections are only 2 weeks away, and so for the Barrow Government, the flood and its aftermath also pose a political hurdle. So, we had to ask the Prime Minister if the flooding could negatively impact his party's chances for a re-election. Here's how he answered that one:

Daniel Ortiz
"Are you concerned that the most vulnerable populations of Belize City, in the strongholds of the UDP will be sensed by the damaged that they have experience and will take it out on you all for the elections?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I am not sure if you were here right at the start. But I did say that no reasonable person can blame us for a natural disaster. We have no control over the weather. We have no control over climate change. We have no control over the fact that Belize City is below sea level. So if there are those who would still want to point a finger, I would simply ignore and dismiss that. What I've said is going to be very squarely in issue, is how we respond to the damage caused by circumstances beyond our control. How we respond is completely utterly within our control and that is where I repeat we have no fear of any kind of scorecard that anyone might want to keep, because we are absolutely determined that we will leave none of our Belize City residents behind."

Daniel Ortiz
"Is this in any way electioneering, the robust response to assist those whose been affected?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"You think we caused the weather to come?"

Daniel Ortiz
"I'm saying is there any opportunism at play?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I can't fault you for asking the question and doing what you conceived to be your job. And I could have some fun with that question. But I won't. Because this is a time for seriousness, not for levity. We are going to, through the means that are available to us as the government of the day, take care of every single citizen who has been affected. I don't know how you or anyone else could make an issue of the fact that we are in government and so we are going to be doing what the government is required to do and what the government must want to do. We are going to be embracing the opportunity to respond in the most muscular, robust, comprehensive complete way possible to the crisis and I'll leave it at that."