NEMO reports that the weather system that is causing all these rains is forecast to linger over the weekend.
And already, the floodwaters are rising.
In the Cayo District, the Succotz Ferry is closed to traffic; the Baking Pot Ferry is closed to traffic; the River at Arenal is four feet above normal; Calla Creek is three feet above normal, the river at Bullet Tree is two and a half feet above normal; and the Macal River is six inches above normal.
In The Stann Creek district, Kendal, Mullins River and North Stann Creek are all above normal levels and rising.
Today, I went to the MET office in Ladyville to find out more from the Chief MET Officer about the chance for it the low pressure system to develop into something more substantial:
Dennis Gonguez - Chief Meteorological Officer
"Presently, it's centered over north-central Guatemala, and this system will linger around the area for a few days over the weekend. Most of the rains occurred last night over the northern and central sections of the country. So, some areas received as much as 5 to 6 inches of rainfall over the past 24 hours. That distinctly raises the possibility of some flooding."
Monica Bodden
"So are we going to experience some rains over the weekend?"
Dennis Gonguez
"Well, the system won't move much. It might move to Belize's offshore for a short period of time. There's a cold front in the Gulf of Mexico that will block the northwest movement of this system. And as such, we expect it to just sit over us or just offshore, and produce copious amounts of rainfall over the weekend. Presently the probability for this system to develop over the next 48 hours is rather low because it's over land, and as it moves offshore, that probability should increase somewhat. The probability is about 20% for it to develop - this broad area of low pressure. So we have to keep an eye out for it over the weekend to see if, come Monday or Tuesday, if anything comes out of this system."
