Tropical Storm Sara's floodwaters are continuing to trickle down to the sea and right now, they're causing the Belize River to overflow. That means, now it's the residents of Burrell Boom who have had to pull out their canoes and their rubber boots. Some have even had to evacuate from their homes.
But the roads that lead to the village are frequently trafficked and some drivers who take their chances with the flood don't even make it through before their vehicles experience mechanical issues.
And those without vehicles are being ferried by a lone paddler.
Courtney Menzies went there today and has this story.
The roads leading in and out of Burrell Boom Village are almost inundated with floodwaters. The river is flush with the bank in some parts, making it impossible for small vehicles to pass. Along the Boom/Hattieville road, several vehicles and motorcycles had stalled after attempting to drive through the water.
The driver of this van carrying tourists was forced to get out and push his vehicle to the other side.
And for one Hattieville resident, he had to be towed off the road.
Mark Somerville, Resident, Hattieville
"The water seemed like it was okay for me to pass and as I was coming through, there was another vehicle coming and the guy he just have to courtesy, he just flew beside me and then that's when my engine got wet and then I shut down, almost before I crossed, my engine shut down and so I had to push it to this location and I don't want to start it because if water get it in it could cost me some more damage and so I have my friend that came and now I'm going to take it to the mechanic."
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you ever seen the flooding like this?"
Mark Somerville, Resident, Hattieville
"Not here in Boom like this. I know I have been on this road so many times and water has always been on the road but not like this."
"I'm just thankful to God that I haven't messed up the vehicle so I can take it to the mechanic, he could take out the plugs and kinda kickstart it and the worse case scenario, I'll have to change the plugs and the oil."
Courtney Menzies:
"You travel this road a lot?"
Carlos Acevedo, Resident
"Yes frequently."
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you ever seen the flood like this before?"
Carlos Acevedo, Resident
"Yes, higher."
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you ever gotten stuck in it?"
Carlos Acevedo, Resident
"No never."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you think you can make it in this truck?"
Carlos Acevedo, Resident
"Yes, I will observe how deep it is and then I will drive through."
Courtney Menzies:
"You've seen other people get stuck before?"
Carlos Acevedo, Resident
"Oh yes, quite a few."
Canadian Tourist
"No problem, I was looking at the fish as we were coming by."
Courtney Menzies:
"Did you fear that you would get stuck?"
Canadian Tourist
"No, we're good."
Courtney Menzies:
"And this is the first time in Belize, or do you live here?"
Canadian Tourist
"We've come here quite a few times."
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you ever seen the flood like that?"
Canadian Tourist
"Nope, never seen that. It's new."
"We came from Sleeping Giant and we're gonna head over to San Pedro."
Courtney Menzies:
"Did you see flooding while there in Cayo?"
Canadian Tourist
"No, there was nothing, it was all good."
But on the other side of the river, it was almost impassable. In fact, one resident had to break out his canoe and ferry people along the road.
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you seen the flooding this bad in this area?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"It's worse than this."
Courtney Menzies:
"And it will get worse as the days go on?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"Well, probably. I'm not saying anything yet but it doesn't look like it has much more to go."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you're ferrying people across, is this something you normally do when it gets like this?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"That's right."
Courtney Menzies:
"When did you, have you been doing this for years?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"Oh yes. Like about 5, 6, this makes about 6."
Courtney Menzies:
"How deep does it get?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"Right now my house is in water like four feet. I live in a bungalow cement house and I have an upstairs house which I had to evacuate, downstairs up to the upstairs house."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you would say not even vehicles could pass?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"Not even vehicles could pass, just the big ones, the really big ones, the high ones, yeah."
Courtney Menzies:
"How difficult is it living like this, living back here and having to endure this every time?"
Selvin Seguro, Resident, Burrell Boom Village
"Well I don't find it difficult because I'm setting myself for it."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you live around here but you didn't know it was this flooded?"
Barry Mortis, Resident, Burrell Boom
"I didn't know, I took the bus out but on my way back in I just found out."
Courtney Menzies:
"Were you coming back from work or where are you coming back from?"
Barry Mortis, Resident, Burrell Boom
"City, I went to do some business in the city then I came back."
Courtney Menzies:
"So that's how fast the floodwaters came."
Barry Mortis, Resident, Burrell Boom
"Yes, I didn't even notice this morning when I was on the bus."
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you seen flooding like this before?"
Barry Mortis, Resident, Burrell Boom
"I haven't."
Courtney Menzies:
"Did you recently move back here?"
Barry Mortis, Resident, Burrell Boom
"Yes about 4 or 5 months ago."
Courtney Menzies:
"Are you worried that this is something that you'll have to deal with a lot?"
Barry Mortis, Resident, Burrell Boom
"Yes, I didn't know it was like this, but I'm sure there's some kind of plan, like thanks to individuals like this that's helping us people that don't have a vehicle that's high enough for the water, able to assist us."
Burrell Boom Resident
"I went to buy at the shop but they forgot my money, I had to come back."
Courtney Menzies:
"And how high was the water?"
Burrell Boom Resident
"Right here."
Courtney Menzies:
"And do you see this type of flooding a lot?"
Burrell Boom Resident
"Yeah."
Courtney Menzies:
"So it's not new."
Burrell Boom Resident
"Not for me."
And it doesn't only affect residents, but businesses as well. For the owners of Black Orchid Resort, they're wondering if they will have to start cancelling their bookings.
Douglas Thompson, Owner, Black Orchid Resort
"The problem we have is not that it's rising, we know it's rising. It's that we're not sure how much water we're going to be expecting. There is no information from anybody to tell us, well, you're going to get 20 feet, 30 feet of water. We need to know. I believe that information is available through I don't know which department, but government and should be available to people like myself that could use that information. And so that's the only disappointment, we're used to the floods, this is the third one we're experiencing. And the river gives and the river takes, we believe it gives more than it takes so we'll survive."
"Presently, even with the flood and water everywhere, we have a conference going on and the ironic part of it, it's a climate change conference which is what we're looking at for the most part."
Courtney Menzies:
"How many guests did you have to send away?"
Douglas Thompson, Owner, Black Orchid Resort
"Well it worked out that we had the National Geographic people here and they were going out any way and bringing in this group. But then after this group, we have several groups plus Christmas parties and conferences that were planned and we don't know whether or not we'll be able to do those in the next two weeks, three weeks, how much time will this water be here."
How much time and how much water? Everyone in the valley is asking these questions. The experts say levels are expected to continue to increase and, looking at it from our drone's eye view, the river has already enveloped the road and it may swallow more of it in the days to come.
The residents estimate that it will be another two weeks before the water recedes.
Later o? in the news, you'll hear what the Red Cross is doing to help provide relief in flood affected areas.
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