Storm Flooding in Belize

This news story from the area where we will be living in Belize.
Please pray as this may be an all too often occurence.
Ray & Becki

FLOOD VICTIMS RESCUED AND EVACUATED IN THE STANN CREEK DISTRICT
June 02, 2008

Early morning flash floods in the area of Hope Creek in the Stann Creek district have caused several families to evacuate to higher ground. A resident of Pomona, Cecil Baide called us this morning and told us that villagers of Pomona were helping to rescue victims of the flash flood. Baide said one child lost his life as his father was trying to take him to higher ground.

Cecil Baide, rescued flooding victims

“For sure I took the father of a little boy and the little boy is between two and three years old. That little boy, his father could not hold on to him anymore and something just knocked him and he lost his child. Up to right now we cannot locate the child as the water is still high, but that child lost his life noh. This is the Hope Creek area in Stann Creek District. That water had, I believe, about fifteen feet high of water and that cover the main highway that leads to Dangriga. The dad and the child were trying to come out of the water because the house was in water. The houses in the area we call the Old Melinda Station the houses are just about two feet off the ground and the water almost covered those houses. They were trying to come out to come on top or trying to get rescued because this was early in the morning and the river is like five hundred feet from where the houses are.”

Baide says that he along with relatives and other villagers were evacuating people as of three o’clock this morning. According to Baide in total they evacuated over a hundred residents of the area.

Cecil Baide, rescued flooding victims

“We came out like three of clock in the morning along with my brother in law and my cousin and we came out with boats with outboard engine and we rescued the people where the boat could not go, we did it with canoes. What we did is take the mother and the children to the places we thought were higher ground and the fathers stayed behind because they said they can battle it by swimming and then when day light came we tried taking them to higher places because there are some parts of Hope Creek that are higher and there the people got some dry clothes and something to eat. The situation right now is that the water is going down since the water is like eight inches to a foot over the road so bigger vehicles could pass and the water is going down. People are right now trying to get something to eat because it’s a lot of people.”