Hurricanes in Belize and Dean

Belize weather in August

August is known for being one of our hotter months with ts average high of 86°F or 30°C. Along with high heat comes the increases chance of big storms, as warm water and moist warm air,  2 key creation factors and why hurricanes are often associated with the tropics.  Those that live here know that hurricanes in Belize are not as common as most people think. For the past 85 years Belize has only seen 16 Hurricanes of which 8 were ‘major’ storms and 17 got rated as tropical storms.

A few thoughts about hurricane Dean written in my notebook as it was happening

Jock is here now, we met him at Marina’s store where there was a long line and he agreed to do the waiting and bring our last minute provisions back to Cindy’s house. She and I booted it back there getting totally drenched in the process.

We are organizing inside now with all our supplies and I was laughing telling Cindy earlier that I bet she did not expect to have a bag lady over for the hurricane. Although she did agree to the usefulness many of the things I had set aside to bring when she was helping us cart it over. Cindy is cooking some pasta which we all really need right now. Last thing I remember eating was pizza last night.

Earlier that day

We went to scout out what was going on in town and saw saw Jim Janmohammed (current head of NEMO) at the water taxi dock and he told us about the mandatory lock down from 8:00 pm to 9:00 am. It was reassuring to walk with him on the dock and hear what he had to say.

Reef Radio was also wonderful to listen to because the coverage was local it made me feel like they were able to tell us straight up. Paul was upset at the weather Channel and wrote them because they kept failing to mention Belize when Dean was clearly heading right for us.

I got an email from CNN to do an interview the night of the storm but how could I possibly get back to them when we were hunkered down and without internet at the time. I wonder why they did not send a corespondent here our neighbor said Jamaica, Dominican and Puerto Rico all got one.

Later that night

Maya and Colette just called to say that waves are through the gate at Royal Palm and wish us all safe.

We had a great group of people to be with during the storm it was Cindy Paul Jock Paul and myself. Lots of food and drink and games to play. we hung out on the balcony as long as we could talking, enjoying fresh air and watching the night sky.

During the storm

After we had to come inside everyone got to playing poker, I was too tired and just faded in and out with Molly and basil on the pull out couch.

We got to look at the storm through the bathroom window as it had wood hurricane slats on it which allowed us to watch the trees dancing in the wind and rain. Everyone lay down for a bit and Paul and I were listening to a good Coast to Coast show about the Mayan crystal skulls on my mp3 player.

I woke up noticing Cindy was dealing with water on the front area so I went to help her sweep up the water and then we both went back to bed. We experienced a few major crashes that startled us but over all we slept through the worst parts.

The day after hurricane Dean

The morning after we all poked our heads out the door to see how things looked. As soon as the curfew was lifted, we headed for the beach to take pictures and see who we could find. Along the way we ran into many friends and everyone was happy and glad to be greeting each other exchanging stories of how we all came through it ok. It was not long till Carole and Dick came back from Flores and met up with us in town as we were finishing our walk and getting ready to head back to Paul and Cindy’s. Town got power and water very fast and we decided to go back to our house and get life back to normal.

Afterthoughts

It has been just over a week since we were hit by Dean, and we were very fortunate to come through this one in as good shape as we did. Tazmara from Barefoot Books said from the state of things up north we really all should have left the island, and she is likely right but I feel that this is something we needed to experience and learn how to prepare for in the way we did. Unfortunately many places did not fare as well as Ambergris Caye. Nancy told me of someone in Corozal who lost his house.

A bit of after excitement from the storm, I got picked up by  the Guardian News in their article Hurricane Dean’s devastation: Tuesday. I will leave you with  a couple of after storm pictures to see more click through to Boca Del Rio after Hurricane Dean.

Clean up after the storm

Crooked power poles in Boca Del Rio after Hurricane Dean