A thunderstorm in the Cayo District has left some families without homes and the towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena without power. Sometime around 2:45 this afternoon a powerful localized thunderstorm hit the twin towns causing severe damage to the market stalls in the town center and blowing the roofs off some homes. The storm which is reported to have packed 40 mile an hour winds uprooted trees and caused damage to some lamp posts leaving the twin towns and surrounding areas without electricity and mostly without phone service. Here is an eyewitness account from Wilmot Simmons.
Wilmot Simmons,
"About little after 3 o'clock the atmosphere of the weather just changed completely from being extremely hot to a lot of breeze and then torrential rain followed by bolts of lightning and thunder then the winds developed and started blowing fiercely. From the position where I was, from top of the hill in the San Ignacio Hotel, I just could have seen things blowing and blowing and blowing and I kept inside. Later on at about 30 minutes later when I had the opportunity to come outside and drove around San Ignacio I just saw a pile of debris all over the places. There was zinc all around the street, there was broken branches, trees uprooted, complete structures just demolished and flattened out, and complete roofs of different buildings just disappeared. What was very notable was the Farmer's Market in San Ignacio, that was 60 to 70% destroyed; the structure was falling apart, the roof collapsing, and vegetable all over the place. It was a horrific scene."
We are told that preparations are now being made by NEMO to aid those persons who suffered damage to their homes.
