And from Ladyville back down to this old capital that has weathered so many storm, The Belize City Council was out in full force today, picking up the remnants of Hurricane Lisa's destruction. They partnered with other entities like the Belize Defense Force and the Orange Walk Town Council to do a massive cleanup drive, removing trees and branches that were blocking roads, and other large items that made their way onto the streets during the storm - as well as the thick film of storm surge grime that slathered streets near to the sea.
Today, we caught up with City Councillor Kaya Cattouse who told us more about the campaign.
Kaya Cattouse, City Councillor
"Yesterday we divided the city into 4 quarters; 2 on the northside and 2 on the southside and we sent out evaluation teams to assess the damage in terms of the debris that the council needs to clean up. That is our main concern getting the roads passable by vehicles, removing the debris from off the streets. Literally there is vegetation all over the entire city. I don't think there is any one area that has more than anywhere. If you drive around the city you will see that residents have already started to remove the trees out of their yards and piling them up on the street sides and we are asking residents to continue to do this so that it makes it easier for heavy equipment to just come and scoop it up off the street side and take it to the transfer station."
"We have close to 500 personnel on the ground. We have made partners with different entities both private and government. The department of environment, central government, MIDH, BDF, Coast Guard, Orange Walk Town Council, the Belize Fire Department, Belize Waste Control - so with the amount of manpower we have, we are not focusing on any one area. We have disseminated 10 teams cross the entire city, so we are working on the ground for the remainder of today, tomorrow and Sunday in hopes that we can clear this city in those 3 days."
Reporter
'What's your reaction when you first saw what Hurricane Lisa caused?"
Kaya Cattouse, City Councillor
"Well being in the city for tje hurricane and experiencing it first-hand we knew that it would have been complete disaster, so driving around the city the day after looking at the devastation we had to kick into recovery mode right away."
