Residents of San Pedro and Caye Caulker and in communities along the coast of the Corozal District are expected to experience sustained tropical storm force winds, which will peak at 50 miles an hour, but only in squalls. That's been happening since morning and 7NEWS had teams on the ground in Corozal and San Pedro. First we take you to San Pedro where Alfonso Noble found massive waves washing up on the reef.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
This is the aerial view of the fierce tidal assault that the barrier reef is under today. Miles and miles of the natural wall in the sea just keeps on getting hammered by 9 and 10 foot waves that crash unto the reef and then dissolve,
their energy dissipated, and their fury easily absorbed by the hulking reef wall, which, though battered, never gives in.
And while the reef is pounded unrelentingly, in the town of San Pedro, there is flooding in the San Pedrito area and the DFC housing project. But while some areas of the San Pedrito Area are under a foot of water, the children still took time to play marbles as the adults navigated the flood, walking along or riding bicycles. Out on the beaches, the reef's defense capabilities were evident as the battle standoff the Caribbean sea's swollen waves and the reef's coral wall, appeared from the distance as a thick ridge of white froth and spume on the horizon.
But even with the reef as a natural defense mechanism against the massive waves there were still swells riding over and making their way to shore. It was a spectacular sight not seen very often and children sat on verandah's to marvel at the force of natural while adults also looked on as the hulking reef did its job. But not everybody was a spectator, there were those, in particular children who enjoyed their day out of school, tempting fate and trying to outrun the waves.
With Hurricane Wilma at about 165 miles north east of San Pedro these rough seas are as bad as it is going to get for San Pedro.
James Jan Mohammed,
"Winds right now are about 17 to 20 miles an hour sustained with 32 miles per hour gusts. However when the feeder bands pass we do go up to 40 miles per hour winds. The sea is very rough, very spectacular as you probably noticed. All our assets are in harbor, we've been letting people stay in harbor and not move around because the seas are pretty rough. We're expecting the situation to deteriorate a little more as the hurricane gets closer to landfall. The prediction is around Tulun or maybe north but if it hits there we'll definitely get to about 50 miles per hour wind, maybe up to 60 miles per hour wind gusts."
And Jan-Mohammed says that while the National Emergency Management Organization leaders don't expect much damage from the gusts, they do anticipate that the
water will be a factor with lower parts of the island already under water.
James Jan Mohammad,
"In San Pedrito area the water has risen so a lot of the lying areas in that area is under water, about a foot of water. In the DFC area some of the yards are in water however the artery roads to these areas are passable by our emergency vehicles so we're not concerned. However some of the golf carts are getting stuck in certain areas but not too bad. We have damage on the docks from the sea. The Spendfrift Dock for instance had a major portion float away. So (on) some of the older docks you will find some damage and of course once the weather is pass we'll ask the resorts and the dock owners to re-inspect their docks before putting the public on their docks."
But aside from the minor damage to the docks there is not much more damage on the island and Jan Mohammed says that complementing nature's mercy is a well prepared emergency management organization.
James Jan Mohammad,
"My committee has been working very diligently; the Police, the BDF, the Customs, the Immigration, the Town Council, the members of the Fire Department. Everybody is being very diligent about everything. The Police and BDF did such a great job last night that there were no reports of breaks in, up until this morning. Also there were no arrests so the community on a whole has to be thanked because they were very good. Everybody has been very very good on a whole."
So it has been all smooth sailing, or perhaps not so smooth sailing for San Pedro as it seems that Hurricane Wilma has spared her devastation and simply left the island with small but remarkable hints of how truly devastating a category 4 storm could be.
At newstime, the swells on the San Pedro coastline were getting higher and piers are reported to be falling. The waves are significantly larger than this morning and the gusts remain strong. The center of the storm is 157 miles northeast of San Pedro.
