The massive category 5 storm known as hurricane Ivan is 290 miles northeast of San Pedro, putting Belize's most popular tourist destination well out of harm's way, or at least that's what you'd think.
But 7 News has confirmed that Ivan has caused damage both to San Pedro and Caye Caulker. Just before news time, the chairman of the Caye caulker village council, Pedro Villanueva called to tell us that entirely half of the front street, which is the town's main artery, starting from the strip, has gone completely underwater with strong waves coming in over the past two hours. Villanueva adds that a number of piers have been significantly damaged and most of them were submerged for a time yesterday. And the beach which the village council had reclaimed a few years ago has seen major erosion, and they expect that 8 feet of it will be lost.
In San Pedro; it's not as bad, but area representative Manuel Heredia tells us that his island has also suffered significant beach erosion and some pier damage. Both islands report winds from the northwest and in Caye Caulker, gusts up to 40 miles an hour have been experienced. We'll keep monitoring this situation and have an
update in tomorrow's newscast.