If you watch the news and certainly if you follow The Weather Channel, you know that we here in Belize are in the direct path of what is now a low-category hurricane that could make for an interesting night.
Hurricane Earl is bearing down right on Belize, expected to make landfall tonight in Belize City–the port city whose unfortunate sea level has always made it extremely vulnerable even to tropical storms, much less hurricanes.
Earl making a beeline for BZ.
In 1964, the deadly, Category 5 Hurricane Hattie killed 400 people and injured thousands. (More at this link.)
Hattie destroyed 75% of the houses and businesses in Belize City, which was then the capital of what was then British Honduras.
The government at the time proposed to encourage and promote the building of a new capital city and set up a secure emergency and communications system there. In 1962, a committee chose the site now known as Belmopan, 81 kilometres (51 miles) west of BZ City and the coast.
In 1970 the planned community of Belmopan became the new capital–sufficiently inland from the vulnerable former capital.
Belize City is always especially vulnerable to damage and loss of life in hurricane season.
Hurricane Earl is no Hattie. It’s expected to be a Category 1 or 2 when it hits BZ City tonight, but its path is worrisome for the damage with winds, flooding and landslides it could potentially do through the entirety of this small country.
Islands were evacuated last night and this morning and the international airport shut down early today.
The visitors here in the mountainous, rainforest tourist town where I live, San Ignacio/Santa Elena, are looking a little dazed and confused (and wet as they are cramming into one of the few restaurants still open at this hour, 4:30 BZ time 5:30 Texas time).
Belizeans live with huge storms every year and know how to prepare and hunker down. The country, and I, are hunkered down, and I’ve ridden out some pretty mean storms and flooding before.
But this feels eerily different. Everybody’s been prepping for days for the worst and we might a good thing we did anticipate the worst.
I got my flashlight and candles, and my trees are trimmed and all potential flying debris and objects removed and my ditches and drainage tunnel cleared out.
I got peanut butter, crackers, cans of Vienna Sausage, beans on the oven (which is butane as most BZ ovens are, fortunately), and Rum (for medicinal purposes).
And my Book of Common Prayer.
Prepared for the worst.
Hoping for the best.
Pray for Belize and Guatemala and Mexico’s Yucatan.
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