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Belizeans can sleep a little easier tonight as Hurricane Beryl is not expected to make landfall with the jewels and will only bring minor impacts to the north. After days of uncertainty and anticipation, tonight the Belize Weather Service confirmed that the Category 3 storm has moved toward the Yucatan Peninsula, sparing Belize from the destructive effects of sustained hurricane force and tropical storm force winds. Despite this, Hurricane Beryl is still expected to bring heavy rainfall, winds up to 73 mph, and 4 to 6 inches of rain to the northern areas of Belize, which remain under a tropical storm watch until the hurricane reaches Mexico. Tonight, Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon provides an in-depth look at the situation and how Belize will be impacted by Beryl’s outer bands.
Ronald Gordon, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service: “Given that the center of this system will be making landfall to our north, the tropical storm force wind radius will not extend all the way to Belize, and as I said before, I don’t expect sustained tropical storm force winds, but there could be tropical storm force winds within those bands, which will primarily affect the northern part of the country in terms of wind intensity. Otherwise, there could be strong and gusty winds, heavy rains, severe thunderstorm activity, intense lightning, but we don’t expect gusty winds. Or I should say, depending on the location, those areas may not see tropical storm force winds, but there will be gusty winds, which could cause structural damage, sometimes even uprooting trees or branches falling off trees. We do know that in thunderstorms, sometimes we get microbursts, which can cause roof damage even if you’re not near the center. So those are certainly some of the impacts that we may see as this system makes landfall north of our border. I wanted to share another tag related to… Anyway, I’ll just describe it. So the other graphic is a little bit more complicated anyway. It describes the wind shear pattern on the current system, and we do see moderate wind shear as expected. However, there is also what we call a pattern, which is basically the winds in the higher levels of the atmosphere are a little bit divergent, which supports upward motion, which can also be a factor that favors some degree of intensification. But I think the most important thing right now is to summarize it as it relates to the impact in Belize. I repeat, don’t expect sustained tropical storm force winds. We do maintain a tropical storm watch from Belize City northward to include the islands. In this case, we may have winds gusting up to tropical storm force within those bands.”
While rainfall is expected to decrease, some parts of the country remain vulnerable to flash flooding. Chief Hydrologist Tenneille Hendy said residents in coastal and low-lying areas need to remain cautious as localized rainfall is expected to increase.
Tennille Hendy, Chief Hydrologist at the National Hydrographic Office: “We have issued a flood warning for the coastal highway, specifically, we are referring to the area from the Sibun Bridge in the village of La Democracia to the Gales Point turnoff. So we are advising residents and motorists in the area to be extremely careful when using this coastal highway. We have also issued a flood warning, which means that flooding is possible and you need to be prepared. This has an impact on the Sibun River in Sibun, Freetown. Of course, the Sibun River flows from the west all the way to the deepwater port area in the south of Belize City. So we are asking the communities in those areas to be vigilant and pay attention to our warnings so that we can make the best decisions when determining travel arrangements. We have also issued a flood warning for the Belize and Corozal areas. We are not only talking about the major river systems in these areas, we are also talking about the tributaries, which are the rivers, creeks and streams that are associated with these larger river systems. We expect urban flooding in these systems. In particular, other parts of the country have also seen elevated water levels, which is related to the outer belt, as the Director of the Meteorological Service explained. We are also facing cross-border impacts that I have been talking about or mentioned since the beginning of this week. Mexico 6 With the rains at the end of the month, we are now seeing these rivers flowing into the country through transboundary impacts, and we expect this to continue to happen until they have largely left their country and come into our downstream country. With Beryl passing through the same area again, we can expect this to continue to happen over the next few days.”
Although the storm’s impact is expected to weaken, the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) remains on alert 24 hours a day. Shelters have been opened in the islands and northern regions, following the activation of regional councils. National Emergency Coordinator Daniel Mendez describes the organization’s preparedness and its advice to citizens.
Captain Daniel Mendez, NEMO National Emergency Coordinator, said: “Our coordinators throughout the country, especially in the northern regions, Caye Caulker and San Pedro, are in close communication with community leaders, especially in the Corozal and Orange Walk regions, and we are in close communication with river monitors and all village, town and city leaders to closely monitor these water levels and update as necessary. All of our Emergency Operations Centers have been activated and they will continue to prepare for Hurricane Beryl just in case. Especially those in the northern regions are on high alert tonight. We are still continuing, we have restocked and our warehouses are ready again as reported. In response to the impact of Beryl, we will open shelters in parts of the country, especially in the northern regions. These shelters will be available in the next few hours for those who may need this service. Likewise, the National Emergency Operations Center will be fully operational tonight. We will be monitoring around the clock in the next few hours and as needed. We will continue to monitor the situation as Hurricane Beryl makes landfall later this evening. We will provide necessary updates as soon as information comes in from the affected areas.”
As of press time, we know that nearly 6,000 people have left Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker by boat and plane. We will have another update from NEMO tomorrow morning.
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