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About 200 families in southern Belize have been affected by the flash floods. The bulk of those are in the villages of Hope Creek and Sittee River. A life has been lost in each and understandably those stories dominate the headlines. But there are so many other lives that have been profoundly affected, and completely overturned. Dozens of people have no suitable home to return to, hundreds have lost everything, and so many more are still reeling form the aftershocks of the terrible floods. It is a trail of destruction and tales of despair, but also triumph and perseverance. Our team of Keith Swift and Alex Ellis went south again today.

Keith Swift Reporting,
The flood waters have receded rather rapidly here in Hope Creek. The street we are standing on and which we are able to walk through freely was under knee deep high water yesterday. But that is hardly any consolation to the families here in the Old Melinda Forest Station area of Hope Creek. They’ve lost just about everything.

No consolation to Olga Bol. One of the few things she’s been able to salvage is these mangoes from her refrigerator which – like just about every other thing in her house –is lying in thick mud and is now useless.

Olga Bol, Flood Victim – Hope Creek
“I didn’t save anything. Everything; bedroom, the clothes, and whatsoever went down. Nothing is good in this house.”

Keith Swift,
Olga what do you need right now?

Olga Bol,
“My most need is like clothing, food, water –that is what we need. With the house, I don’t know what we will do. I don’t know.”

Keith Swift,
How do you move on?

Olga Bol,
“That I don’t know because like I said, we will from scratch. I have a job, I don’t know if when I go back I will have one. I don’t know because definitely I won’t go back to work like this. I have no clothes to go to work, I have no shoes – nothing. So I don’t know what we will do.”

Thaddeus Pook and his common-law wife Rosaline Young also don’t know what they will do. Their home like many others now resembles a pig sty.

Thaddeus Pook, Flood Victim – Hope Creek
“I had a little young baby, about one month old, and another son who is just six. They can’t help themselves. We started struggling in here and didn’t have time to save anything because of the fastness of the water. I took a stool from the table, put it on top of the dresser, and I started to push up my wife and after that I pushed up the baby. I ripped off the table cloth off the table and threw it on top of the zinc and hauled up the baby slowly. I then hauled up my little son.

I couldn’t say that we could have saved anything because of the fastness with which the current went up. But I am glad my family is safe, that is what I was worrying about. I wasn’t worried about the material things, I was worried that my family was alright.

At the moment our minds are still confused and we are stressed out right now and we don’t really have a plan what we will do yet.”

And the news isn’t any better in Sittee River where flood waters ripped through this store, this restaurant, and many homes – including that of Sherett Espinoza. Lost in the mud were money, which along with the house, they had to be hose down.

Sherett Espinoza, Flood Victim – Sittee River
“Everything you see right here is what was in my mom’s house and she lost everything. What we found was the money which they are washing. We are washing out the house right now to try and make it look like a house back.”

Keith Swift,
You’ve taken out all the stuff so what are you guys going to do now?

Sherett Espinoza,
“Well we have to start all over.”

That’s also what Angela Reynolds will have to do.

Angela Reynolds, Flood Victim – Sittee River
“I have to say I am out of door because everything I had is lost right now and I am trying to clean out my house so I could put back at least the chairs, the ones that are board, and the table. But the mattress and everything I lost; almost everything. Thank God only my self is left and my children.”

Keith Swift,
Again like so many other people, did the water just come suddenly?

Angela Reynolds,
“Yes, suddenly the water came. It came suddenly at 6 o’clock yesterday morning and we couldn’t get to save anything. We couldn’t save nothing other than our lives.”

Keith Swift,
What will be your next move?

Angela Reynolds,
“Well I will just clean out the house and prepare for another weather because it just begin.”

And along with the destruction and despair here in Sittee River there is some progress, some good news to report. That is that the residents who were yesterday searching for ‘Mr. Nemo’ have found him. And this afternoon Mr. Nemo was this BATSUB helicopter which arrived with food for distribution to 85 families in Sittee Rive, including the man who yesterday called out for NEMO.

Dale Raynod, Flood Victim – Sittee River
“Basically from since the disaster happened in the morning and until midday coming on to evening we didn’t get any help but then after the Prime Minister visited and promised us we would get relief, sudden one about nine o’clock in the night the soldiers they came. So basically I wanted to apologize to NEMO for yesterday but due to the frustration I believed that they really weren’t going to help us. But I just want to say thanks to everybody out there and to the whole country of Belize, than whenever you hear about flash floods – prepare yourself because we didn’t take it seriously and the rush that came across – leaving us without water to drink and food to eat – everything in your house get ruined, nowhere to sleep – it was real frustrating for us.”

Florence Gabourel, Flood Victim – Sittee River
“We have to say thanks to the government because they gave us some food and some clothes. So thanks to the government, Mr. Barrow came yesterday and he promised that he would give us some food. I am okay now, so thanks to the government.”

But not everyone is pleased with Mr. Nemo

Bedsford Ritchie, Flood Victim – Valley Community
“They bring about 18 gallons of water and corn beef and sausage and that is all we have to eat. There is no bread at the shops to buy, there is so bread. We haven’t gotten nothing to eat, only sausage.”

A NEMO official told us that the villagers are being given supplies to last them two weeks. With the south and some of Belize District being declared a disaster area, the Prime Minister said assistance for re-building homes should be forthcoming from international donors.