44 years ago tonight, Hurricane Hattie devoured and devastated Belize City, then the country's capital. It's one of the landmark historical events in the history of the city, not only because of the death toll and the cost of the damage, but also because that's when it was decided that the capital must be moved to a safe place, away from the savagery of storms....that place would later be called Belmopan.
But, ever hardy and proud and resilient, the city residents learned to move on from the memory of Hattie's night of terror and the got over the ignominy of being stripped of her title as capital. So much so, that now, the anniversary of this terrible storm passes without any official mention. In fact, it's hardly ever mentioned, and seems to live on if only as a permanent footnote in the minds of those who lived through those dreadful hours on October 31st. 1961.
But today, finally, the city paid permanent homage to Hattie's memory with a monument at the Lord's Ridge Cemetery where so many of those who perished were buried in a mass grave. 7NEWS was at the memorial service.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
The drum beat slowly on this day as the funereal sound of the BDF band set the solemn tone for the remembrance of one of the saddest events in Belize City's history. It was October 31st. 1961 when Hurricane Hattie took a sharp left turn and made a beeline for Belize City. The category four storm flattened the city in 8 terrible and tumultuous hours. Mayor at the time was then George Price who today recalled that he came to the Lord's Ridge Cemetery and found a mass grave with bodies in it.
Rt. Hon. George Price,
"At the grave site I prayed the Lord's Prayer and asked God to bless the grave and grant eternal rest to those who live in it. The following day more dead bodies were collected. Some were burnt on the spot, others at the entrance of the cemetery. The burnt remains were laid in the communal grave. About 100 dead bodies were found in Belize City. Others at Caye Caulker, Turneffe and the cayes, Dangriga, Mullins River Village, and elsewhere. Total deaths recorded were 264."
Included in that number were Bishop Dorrick Wright's two sisters, his brother and his mother. As he led today's program, he remembered that terrible day. After the storm, he remembers feeling like he was the last man alive.
Bishop Dorrick Wright, Hattie Survivor
"There's lot of things I remember and just can't forget it. I sat on a tree and looked around and I just saw water. I thought maybe I was the only one alive. I thought maybe the whole country was covered with water and I can recall my father shouting at me, he was standing on the side of a house where all three walls had gone down and he was on the fourth side, and he called and asked what I knew of the family. I told him as far as I know my mother drowned because that I saw for sure."
Jules Vasquez,
You were with your mother on that tree as I recall, having heard the story.
Bishop Dorrick Wright,
"No she was at the bottom of the tree on a piece of log because the water had come up and everybody was floating around. So it wasn't the tree but because she was a short heavy set woman, a fat woman, it was difficult for her to climb out."
And there are many such stories - Bishop O.P. Martin also lost his aunt and uncle. And to remember all those lost, Minister of Home Affairs Ralph Fonseca unveiled an obelisk to commemorate the memory of the storm's victims.
Bishop Dorrick Wright,
"I think this is good because we can at least identify a spot where the bodies of our loved ones are buried and in Belize have the habit of putting wreaths and flowers on graves and at least now there is a place where you can come and say my mom is buried there or my sister is buried there etc. So you can always come by and not exactly chat with the dead but at least say a prayer for them."
And today government leaders rested wreaths on the obelisk - but for those who were there, the memories of Hattie's wrath and her terrible toll will likely never be put to rest.
The monument has been erected on what Lord's Ridge groundskeepers recall is the exact site of the mass grave.
