And with more rains predicted, tonight the main concern continues to be flooding as all watersheds in the country have been affected. Today 7NEWS spoke with hydrologist and the manager in charge of the unit, Rudolph Williams about water levels in all the rivers, and the particular concern for the Belize River where it meets the Northern Highway.
Rudolph Williams, Hydrologist
“The northern rivers are in flood stage and many villages have been cut off. In the Belize River we have major flooding in the Macal which impacts on the San Ignacio Town. This is a major flood event. Although we have the controlled installations of the Chalillo and the Mollejon,
we are seeing a major flood event.
Down on the southern watersheds on the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains we have all the rivers in that area are in flood stage and we suspect that this flooding will continue.
You might see a slight recession in the flood level but don’t take that for granted because when it starts to rain again it will be a quick response to the rainfall.
What I have been observing over a long period of time Jackie is that the Belize River is doing what it normally does, it erodes the banks of the river and the trees that tend to hold the banks together are falling into the river and this is a concern because we know that the boundary between the river and road is not very big between the Haulover Bridge and the airport junction. So if this continues at this rate we can expect that the road will become vulnerable to the erosion processes of the river and normally the erosion goes under the banks and then the trees fall. So it could be well under the road and it could be some surprises for us sometime later on after the flood event.
We expect that if the floods come, some roads might be inundated and the advice is that do not drive through flooded water especially if you’re a small vehicle.”
According to the Hydrology Unit, some parts of the country experienced between nine to ten inches of rain overnight. Again persons living in low lying areas are being advised to monitor their weather reports over the weekend and be ready to evacuate if necessary as even more heavy rains head our way.
