Tonight, Cayo's floodwaters are rolling across the Belize District - and today, they settled on the Crooked Tree Village causeway - an elevated strip of road right through the lagoon that has long endured chronic flooding.
Courtney Menzies went there today and found out how the villagers are coping with their old friend, "Raymond Waters":
The Crooked Tree Lagoon is rising quickly, and villagers are preparing for the worst as the floodwater that swallowed western Belize makes it way towards them.
The village has always been prone to heavy flooding - and rains would regularly flood the causeway, forcing residents to traverse through 3-5 feet of water.
It was raised six years ago, and then again in 2018 to a new high - supposedly higher than the highest flood.
That was until today when the water has risen high enough to cover parts of the road with at least a foot of water.
One elderly resident who resides near the lagoon isn't taking any chances, since she says she has needed a boat in the past to get to her homes. She had her bags packed by this afternoon.
Courtney Menzies:
"You guys have to move to higher ground."
Margaret Jones, Crooked Tree Resident
"I believe so, we just have to watch the water, whenever it comes to the door, we have to move."
"I'm securing my clothes, my clothes mostly, and some food, groceries, to take with me."
Courtney Menzies:
"Where are you planning to evacuate to?"
Margaret Jones, Crooked Tree Resident
"I'm going to the Pine Ridge areas, where my son is."
Jones told us that she had been living in the US for the past few years, and came back to Crooked Tree home less than a year ago - only to have to move out again.
Another elderly resident living near the lagoon was also busy today securing her things. While her home may normally be able to withstand the flooding, she knows it is better to be safe than sorry. Other villagers were assisting her, and one of them spoke with us.
Becky Armstrong, Crooked Tree Resident
"Right now, it's coming up very fast because we were here yesterday and we had 8 feet clearance between the lagoon and the front gate on this property that we're on right now and right now the water is in the front yard so that's how fast it's coming up. And here, around here, is the lower area so the water is coming from the lagoon and its finding all the lower areas and it's coming around and it's going to go around and climb all these hills and by tomorrow it will be in the shallow area where it will be hard to even get to the lagoon."
"It's not new to us here in Crooked Tree because we have experienced it before, we have seen it before, but this year, the echo that I keep hearing is that it has never been like this before, I have never seen anything like this before, so we don't know what to expect but we know what we dealt with in 2008 and we know what we dealt with in 2013."
While no one really knows what to expect, the Coast Guard Officers deployed in the village remain ready for anything. Currently, there are four officers with one vessel, but they were expecting another team of four to five more officers to arrive on another vessel this evening. Chief Petty Officer, Rigoberto Rivas, told us that he expects the team to remain in the village at least until next week Friday.
Rigoberto Rivas, Chief Petty Officer, BCG
"We're here from since Sunday in the event any vehicle can't come cross, well we are here to transport personnels from point A to point B as well, assisting anybody in search and rescue if there is the need and evacuating persons from their home if there is the need to be done."
The chairman of the village, Godfrey Smith Jr, has also been busy assisting villagers in need. He wants the residents to know that if they need any assistance, they can contact him.
Godfrey Smith Jr., Chairman, Crooked Tree
"So far the water is rising very rapidly and we have advised motorists to try and take their vehicle out, those that use their vehicle to traverse to the city and the towns and we have also advised people in low areas to move into the shelters, we are willing to assist them in any way. When the rain came down, we moved one family of three who is presently in the shelter but that's from the rain, that's not from this flooding."
Smith complained that the materials used to build the causeway, limestone, should not have been used, and so he is not surprised that it has already begun to chip away. Now the villagers wait to see if it will stand up to the rage of floodwater heading their way.
