And back over in Roaring Creek, as we told you, the flash flood affected the tourists that were on the Actun Tunichil Muknal Caves tour as well. But it could have been a lot worse if not for the training and preparedness of the tour guides. When they saw the river rising, they all came together to ensure that their guests made it safely back across the river.
And while for the tourists, it might have been a frightening experience, the guides were back out on the river today, and they say they've been there, and done that before, so there was no panicking on their part.
Courtney Menzies caught up with them at the end of their tours today and has this story.
What started off as a perfect river day quickly turned dangerous for almost two hundred tourists and tour guides after a flash flood made the Roaring Creek River rise several feet in a matter of minutes. The guides were taking their guests through the ATM Caves, and when they got out they noticed something wasn't quite right.
Oscar Carbajal, Tour Guide
"It started normal, water was low, nice and clear and everybody went and did their tour. Coming out is when we, because you have to cross this river three times before you get to the cave. As we came out, flash flood. Luckily for us, we have a, what you call emergency trail so it goes around the hillside and it boycotts two crossings. This last one here, you can't dodge. Luckily too we have a brotherhood of guides and we all pool our resources together when it comes to things like that and so we started to get our canoes and life vests and some were strong swimmers and some struggled but luckily we all got out safe."
But fortunately, these guides were trained for the worst:
Fransisco Raymundo, Tour Guide
"I had a good knowledge what to do, I was calm, keep guests calm and help the guys to bring people across the stream, it was easy for me. We had to cut through a big part of the trail since hurricane Lisa, the trail was not visible so we had to cut down a nice part of the trail until we met the trail we normally cross and we got here and the other guides were all waiting for us on the other side waiting for assistance, people were already crossing, the rope that was attached, it was easy. Just some challenges with guests that were uncomfortable… we made sure they had jackets… and everything was normal, calm."
And they also received assistance from Chaa Creek, with canoes to help those who were too afraid to cross:
Fransisco Raymundo, Tour Guide
"There were some kids who were not comfortable, maybe would have gotten wash down river, because would not be that strong enough to hold on to that rope and so on. So those canoes did came out handy."
But while everyone was safe, the tour guides said that incidents like these sometimes deter tourists from taking these types of tours:
Oscar Carbajal, Tour Guide
"Tourists were kind of like nervous and they were wondering how they were going to do this last crossing but we've done it before, we know what it takes, I wasn't nervous because I've done it before but some of the tourists I'm sure they were wondering how are we going to do this last crossing."
Fransisco Raymundo, Tour Guide
"I had some cancellation today because of that. They were scared to have gone into something like that today, but again 19 years, I've been through a lot. Been there, done that."
Reporter
"So today the river was much calmer?"
Fransisco Raymundo, Tour Guide
"A lot calmer. Not to like normal regular level, but still manageable, easy. We had kids in the water and they had fun."
Many of the guides have "swift river training" for flash flood situations.
