For most it was too late to make disaster plans, and they simply didn't. And they got lucky because luckily Alex was a real bust. Our storm chaser, Monica Bodden flew from San Pedro to the city to see what havoc the storm would wreak, and she found, not much at all:....

Monica Bodden Reporting
At the 12:00 o clock forecast, the storm track suddenly shifted from northwest to west - and it was heading directly for the city with winds of at least 65 miles an hour projected to make landfall at 6:00 in the evening. That was unexpected and NEMO and the City Emergency Management Organization sprung into action by opening this shelter at Excelsior:

Roger Espejo - NEMO Coordinator, Bze City
"We are planning for flooding which is the primary concern; we are opening shelters on the south side."

This family was ready to go into the shelter

Interviewee
"Well we came because our house is like crackerjack it can't hold anything, it's a small house we live in and the house is not good, with the least thing it will go to the ground and leave us in there."

But what about other families in similar circumstances?

Roger Espejo
"Actually we have been very prepared for it, from yesterday we had a CEMO emergency meeting, CEMO had a meeting before that actually, so we are very prepared this time around."

They didn't seem very prepared though.

Jules Vasquez "Are we sending out an effective enough messages to say, listen; 65 miles an hour wind is coming, a lot of those wooden houses will not be able to withstand those types of winds"

Tom Morrison - Shelters Coordinator, Belize City
"I believe so, over the years we have been sending out that kind of message"

Jules Vasquez
"Immediately, in this immediate case?"

Tom Morrison
"Well, no, it has not been sent out, but we want to send that out right now"

It was too late but fortunately that 65 miles an hour never came and the city continued about at its usual late evening Saturday pace - no one was panicked, no one rushing to the shelter. Stores were opened for regular business so was this food vendor and tacos stand. At a few minutes 6:00 pm when the storm was supposed to be making landfall in Belize City this young man who lives near the Yabra bridge in front of the sea was walking on stilts - while his neighbors were playing basketball.

By 6:00 the rain started to come down - and while a few were stranded in it, most continued their shopping in the flooded streets - not buying emergency supplies, mind you, just their regular shopping. In fact it was so casual that around 6:30 when the storm was supposed to be making landfall these folks were at Yabra field which is on the sea front - inspired no doubt by world cup fever, playing football on the sea front!

Jane Usher Boulevard was flooded but that didn't stop this boy and his dog from turning the storm into an adventure and the shopping continued, just in umbrellas now. At 7:00 the coconut trees on north creek gave no signal of heavy winds and while the rain was coming down in sheets on Water lane. At the Vernon Street bridge near Lakeview Street - these youths were taking in the canal view. On Antelope extension this woman with child was rushing to a friend's house, not to a shelter. Around 8:00 here on the seafront you could see the winds picking up just slightly as the rain continued In the flood prone phase four area only this dog was the only one baying in despair. While on Mahogany Street, the late night shopping continued - these images taken at about 9:00 pm even as the street was flooded. But no matter the flood, at 9:00 Li Chee was still open and still had a line showing that this was a full service storm - all stores and businesses remained opened. Here on Flamboyant Street - we found one family returning from a failed search for an open shelter - but they didn't seem too worried that none was opened

Interviewee
"We are coming from St. Luke, we were just checking to see if they were open."

Monica Bodden
"Why? Is back of your area flooded?"

Interviewee
"No, not really, but we live beside the river."

Monica Bodden
"Beside the river side? In a bungalow house?"

Interviewee
"In a bungalow house, the house is ok, but we don't want to take any chances, they already said that they didn't want anyone running about at 12:00pm tonight"

And while they were enjoying the wind kicking up in the city, in Ladyville one family was in the shelter.

Michael Hutchinson, Area Rep, Belize Rural Central
"A part from flooding of the streets and drains, we only had to evacuate one family about half an hour ago and they felt that there house was unsafe, the Ladyville community centre is open from 3:00 o'clock, the Vice Chairman and the Chairman has opened that and so far only one family has taken refuge in the center and that is due to flooding, I think their house is built in a real low lying area and so they evacuate themselves and they are in the center presently. The wind was blowing and they felt that the house was unsafe, so they called and asked that we evacuate them and that we did, successfully about an half an hour ago or so"

Sebastian Hamilton - Shelter Seeker
"We were evacuated about 6:30 pm in the evening and came over here because the water was raising high were we live and my wife said for us to go to the shelter and this is the shelter that we always come to when the water raises and the weather is like this, we always come here because the water raise too high"

Monica Bodden
"How high was the water before you all decided to evacuate?"

Sebastian Hamilton
"Well the water reach me at my knee and my kids are small, we can't take that risk, my wife told me ' you feel how the breeze felt?' Later it will come more I told her. I am not sure about that."

But most were not that cautious.

Monica Bodden
"Its 11:00 O'clock and the tail wind of the storm is directly over us this is as bad as it has gotten in Belize City, with winds of upward of 30 miles per hour. Thankfully the storm didn't deliver the 65 miles per hour winds we all were expecting in the City, but the 30 plus winds I am experiencing now at the seaside is enough to knock me off my feet"

"And while I was nearly off my feet, everyone else was in their bed, sure there were a few flooded homes in low lying areas and a few old fences bent out of shape and in the end the story of this storm was just that, a story, for the media and not much else, thankfully".

Reporting for 7 news I am Monica Bodden.

By the end of the night, 50 people had gone to Excelsior which was the only shelter opened in Belize City. According to the city's NEMO coordinator - who did his assessment this afternoon, there was only a single report of structural damage in Belize City where a home on Partridge street extension received damage to its roof as an adjacent tree fell on it.

We'll have more on Tropical Storm Alex later as we visit the MET office to find out more about this puzzling storm which luckily did not deliver the winds that were forecast.