And where there is water, there is the Belize Coast Guard.
20 officers were deployed on rescue missions over the past few days, especially in the flood ravaged Cayo District.
According to Acting Commander, Gregory Soberanis, in emergency situations such as these, they work closely with NEMO and the BDF.
Perhaps the most daring of all was rescuing several persons who were trapped in Calla Creek. Commander Soberanis explained why the Coast Guard had to leave the stranded families overnight before going to their rescue.
Cmdr. Gregory Soberanis, Acting Commandant, BCG
"Our initial response to that area commenced and proceeded over the weekend, at the end of the reporting period we were able to rescue and evacuate 32 personnel, 18 males, 7 females and 8 children. We also were able to provide relief efforts over 500 pantry packages, over 600 gallons of water and we were also
able to assist with the distribution of food from the Mennonite communities. The Calla Creek area was inundated by water, they had the currents were really strong in that area and we were informed of the situation there. At the time we got the call it was late in the evening, we did our risk assessment and based on several factors that had transpired within the river for example the bridge was washed away, there were loose cables in the water that type of thing and it provided some sense of risk, we somewhat did some operational planning to figure out what our course of action would be to address that particular situation. We were able to establish contact with residents in Calla Creek who said to us that they were okay, they would be fine for the night and they advised us to wait until morning to make our way to their location. Early the following morning we were able to reach Calla Creek and we were able to execute the rescue operation for those individuals that were trapped."
As we told you, all that flood water is now heading for the Belize District. Commander Soberanis reassured the public that the Coast guard is equipped and prepared in case evacuations are needed.
Cmdr. Gregory Soberanis, Acting Commandant, BCG
"We knew this flood would eventually reach the Belize district so as a staff we did some operational planning we have our intelligence cell that does a threat analysis for us that provides us with the areas that are the high-risk areas of being affected by the flood. What that enabled us to do was to do some forward planning and so what we have done is that we have staged vessels in these areas so we already have a vessel in Crooked Tree in anticipation of the flood waters reaching that area and so we have, currently we have a vessel in Crooked Tree, we have a vessel ready to operate in the Burrell Boom area and we also have a vessel that operates in the Rancho Dolores Lemonal area, so those vessels are already at those locations and we have an additional two vessels here on standby to deploy to other areas that may become affected and require the Coast Guard assistance."
Several persons were evacuated from Rancho Dolores, Crooked Tree, Lemonal, and Burrell Boom by the Coast Guard and other partners.
