And one Belizean who's currently riding out the storm in Florida is Jamal Galvez, otherwise known as the Manatee Man. And it was his work with the sea creature that led him to Florida during the hurricane. He explained that he hadn't expected Ian to shift that way, but that he's also fortunate to be housed in an area that isn't expected to flood. Still, he told us that, like any other hurricane, there's a lot of rain and a whole lot of wind. He added that the magnitude of this storm is the effects of climate change and that Belize would not have fared off so well if Ian had continued on its original path.
Jamal Galvez, Currently Visiting Florida
"I came here a few days ago, I came for some work event, an internship with the state of Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and also our headquarters with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is located here in Clearwater as well so I came out to do some work activities and when I left Belize, the storm was threatening to come to Belize and when I got here, I was informed that the storm was coming here, which was quite surprising. But right now, where I am is not an evacuation zone, it's considered a safe area so majority of the other areas have been deemed evacuation zone, many people have evacuated due to flooding and high wind but where we are, we don't expect flooding because we're at a higher elevation but we're experiencing high wind, rain, and very windy, some trees have fallen, but not as bad as some other places that I've seen on the news."
"I'm staying with friends and colleagues, we went to get our groceries, as you are aware on the news here, the grocery stores get empty very quickly, especially things like water and toilet paper, so we went and got the essential groceries and anything that we may need in the event that we lose power we nailed up our window where we are and secured any items outside to avoid them from becoming projectiles when the winds picks up."
"It's definitely concerning coming from a developing country, at sea level, below sea level at some areas and knowing the infrastructure we have in Belize, a storm of this magnitude would be devastating to a country like Belize and it's really the impacts of climate change showing its face, these are the early stages and these are preliminary to what scientists expect storms to become."
"We're fortunate that this storm hadn't come to Belize because it would not have been good, I can assure you lives would have been lost and the flooding would have been devastating but here in Florida people, like I said, they are relaxed, the work still continues. The day before the hurricane we rescued a manatee that had gotten hit by a boat. Our team at the aquarium, we have a lot of rescue animals, they're riding the storm at the aquarium making sure that these animals are safe, they're taken care of."
