It's a disaster, the likes of which hasn't been seen in 18 years, a washout of mile 38 on the George Price Highway - that undermined the approach to the Beaver Dam bridge and severed a main vein in Belize's transport infrastructure, cutting off east from west, and stranding commuters traveling between the old capital and the new.

Work to reconstruct the split started just after 10 this morning with engineers from the Ministry of works racing to salvage the material that raging floodwaters were carrying away. Cherisse Halsall was on the scene.

The ground beneath my feet is about to be washed away after a night of heavy rains split one of Belize's major highways in two. The same thing has happened in the south and it's left western Belize cut off like an island.

The separation happened around 10:00 this morning at Mile 38 1/2 on the George Price Highway, leaving residents and commuters stranded on either side. And on our side we met Ministry of Works Chief engineer Lennox Bradley who was still assessing the situation and hoping that the culverts hadn't been compromised.

Lennox Bradley - Chief Engineer, Ministry of Works

"What we figure from the preliminary assessment that we have done this morning you know all night last night we had rain. The volume of water that has come down now far exceeds the capacity of the double five foot culverts that we have underneath and we have granular material that covers these culverts and somehow the water has worked its way between that granular material because it's not plastic it is permeable. The water went through that and I think it has washed away some of the material which has led to the subsidence nearly two feet that we have. The culverts to us appears to be, have not been compromised; they seem to be in good order because water is still flowing through the culverts and so the plan if the culverts are not compromised is to get some heavy boulders. We already have some excavators coming in two excavators one from each extreme end along with material from both ends and what we plan to do is just break out the material that has subsided and we'll backfill with boulders, heavy boulders and then of course find at material at the surface just to at least restore access to the public. I think we need at least 6 hours to restore this because material is coming in from national aggregates and from the Cayo side. We want heavy materials that could, the water will not wash away that material easily."

And before works could get underway, the Minister responsible for traffic flow was on the scene. He blamed climate change for the destruction of the road.

Hon. Edmond Castro - Minister of Transport

"We will continue to have this phenomenon because of climate change which is real and these culverts were adequate back 30, 40 years ago but not now, so we have to build bridges and roads that are climate resilient, which will adequately deal with the situation that is now. This one here at St. Matthews over the course of last night because of the flash flood and the water coming down, the culvert that is here, is not adequate for the amount of water coming down the stream. So, it caused the embankment of both sides of the culvert to stress and thus create the problem we are experiencing today. The water is receding, this will recede within another 4 hours or so, Ministry of Works will be able to deal with the excavator to excavate the compromised portion of the highway and use rocks to fill it in temporarily but what needs to be done is to use some 6 foot wide culverts on each side, so that they adequately will be able to handle the volume of water coming down the creek."

And later Zone Engineer Irving Thimbrel updated us on the situation making it clear that it worse than initially feared.

Irving Thimbrel - Central Zone Engineer, Ministry of Works

"What we tried to do this morning was to analyse what was happening. We could not get a good snapshot because of the level of the water so as the water has started to recede, we've been able to see better but what happened during that time is that the culverts were compromised. We're very sure that we have to remove them so what we are doing is we're widening the channel to allow the water to recced faster. So, once the water recedes then we'll be able to start the rebuilding efforts. Because the channel will open up what we need to do now is to find a solution so we have several things on the table that we are working on we're looking to set up a bailey bridge we have some bailey bridges on the compound, that's one option, we're looking at also putting in some boulders to do a temporary crossing. So, we are strategizing as a ministry to see what is the best option to be able to get the road back open as quickly as possible to allow for the free flow of traffic."

And while the engineers strategized a backfill of the area, residents could only look on in helpless anticipation. We spoke to three men separated from their loved ones by the floodwaters.

Reuben Lucas - Village Councillor, St. Matthews Village

"I've lived in the village practically all my life so we know the areas that are vulnerable to the floods."

Cherisse Halsall

"So this something the community expected would have happened?"

Reuben Lucas

"Not really to this amount of rainfall because we experience floods. Workwise it's not gonna happen for us for a while. I have relatives on the other side and they're stranded so we'll see how we manage to get in contact with them. We have contact by phone but we're not able to cross to the other side."

Flood Smith - Residence, St. Matthews Village

"The road just lifted up the pressure of the water he just start raise and the road just started to lift and in a little while around after 6, 7 it just opened up. Really in a way it's done everybody bad and it's done me bad because then the water came unexpectedly, nobody can't go to work and can't cross the river. I have family across there and I stay across there most of the time for this to happen everything is shot, you understand, nobody can't work, nobody can't move we just have to wait until everything flows through and we'll see what will happen. I'm supposed to go across to see if my family is alright but I can't go across because there's no way to cross."

And yet another man found a way.

Richard Santiago - Department of Transport

"This morning we heard that no buses were able to cross from the St. Matthews side to go to Belize City and when I left the terminal we sent most of our buses back to the west where they came from. So, I decided that we have a busito that will only drop us at mile 39 and then from there we have to find a way across. So I know the only way across is behind the Minister's farm and I know the farm, so I just had to take a walk from through the back and try see how I can swim across to the next side of the piece of land that was there. I met four males and one female trying to come across as well."

Reporter

"I understand that during the process you lost your bag."

Richard Santiago

"I had to well I didn't really lose it, I just had to let it go because it soaked up most of the water and I had a raincoat and my uniform shirt so, I had to let it float."

Cherisse Halsall

"Other than that swim, how cold was the water?"

Richard Santiago

"Never really cold but the current was strong, if you never grab on to most of the branches, you will get carried away. Looks like no bus won't run to Belize City for the rest of the day until maybe tomorrow. I don't like to sleep away from home. I have two kids; I have to reach home."

But while Santiago got home many remain stranded. It was much the same in June of 2002 when the old Beaver Dam bridge washed away in a similar flood.

Now, residents and travellers of this road want more than just safe passage. They want a guarantee that this type of separation can become a thing of the past.

Lennox Bradley

"The permanent solution will be to increase the hydraulic capacity of the culverts so it might be either more culverts we put in, in the long run or a small bridge. What we have noticed here these culverts are designed for a 1 in 20 year return period and the volume of water that we have here is close to maybe a 1 in 50 year return period so obviously the culverts couldn't take that volume of water and this is what transpired. Material got washed out because of the type of material you have there and we will just have to replenish it."

But in the meantime, all eyes are on Bradley and Thimbrel, the men who even now are working to reconnect the east and the west.

Cherisse Halsall

"And the timeline now, what would you say it is to get the road.."

Irving Timbrel

"We're going to be working on this, we will not leave until this is finished so we're telling the country from now that we're gonna do our best to make sure that the road is open back as quickly as possible."

We thank Dioni Marin Photography for the drone aerial footage.

Works are still active and underway in the area, and the latest information is that the road to the St. Matthews bridge is on schedule to be re-opened by 8:00 PM.