If you are travelling south, you will need to change your plans because since 5:00 p.m. today the Causeway at the Kendal crossing on the Southern Highway has been under a foot of water.

The National Emergency Management Organization advises that the river is rising up to 9 inches every hour and shortly the entire Causeway would be completely submerged.

Travelers are advised not to use the Causeway at this time. NEMO says it will give an update to the situation at Kendall on Tuesday morning.

personally,, i think barrow dropped the ball with this one! big time.
it's been a year and it is still a dirt-over-culvert bandaid.
another season of wash-out, rebuild, repeat.

The bridge is not and was not closed, the water never reached the bridge.

Good to know that NEMO cannot even tell that a bridge is flooded!
And it is no longer culverts and dirt, the replaced it with a cheesy metal bridge about 2 feet over the water at dry levels. It will never withstand any heavy rains.

i saw that 'upgrade' a few weeks ago. it was about 2 feet from being wet then.
if the water never rises it seems like it would be Ok, but let it spend a few hours under a hi flowing current and see what happens.
and it has just now begun to rain.
but they do have to guys at either side with walkie's attempting to avoid a cluster-phuck.
they failed the day we crossed,,,,miserably.

Heavy rains put Kendal under watch

The rainy season is not set to start until June, but already the southern part of Belize is being drenched by heavy rains, nudging the Ministry of Works to issue an advisory today for motorists to monitor rising waters at the Kendal crossing over the Sittee River in Stann Creek.

The fatal floods of 2008 are still a vivid and haunting memory in the minds of many, and so officials in the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) and the Ministry of Works are keeping a keen eye on the situation, particularly in light of how Tropical Storm Arthur exploded over Belize at the start of last year’s rainy season with little warning, taking multiple lives in the process.

Speaking with Amandala late this evening, Colonel George Lovell, NEMO’s national coordinator, said that at 5:00 p.m. today, the waters at Kendal had been rising at 9 inches an hour and are expected to continue rising into the night, with waters from the weekend’s rains continuing to flow down from the Stann Creek mountains.

Lovell advises travelers to stay in-tuned to the advisories issued by the Chief Engineer, Lennox Bradley.

Bradley told Amandala tonight that as of 7:30 p.m., flood waters were right below the temporary bridge, and if the waters continue to rise, the bridge would have to be closed to traffic.

The Government of Belize had last year erected a temporary bridge at Kendal, replacing the lower causeway crossing, which, officials say, was about to go under water at press time.

Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Works, Cadet Henderson, told Amandala tonight that his people were on the ground keeping a close watch of the situation, but traffic was still flowing unimpeded across the bridge.

According to Henderson, they will issue their next update first thing Tuesday morning.

He informed us that the Government does plan to replace the Kendal and Mullins River bridges, destroyed in the floods of Tropical Depression #16 last October, with more permanent structures. However, a foreign consultant would be engaged as per GOB’s agreement with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Henderson advises travelers also to stay on the alert and monitor the situation, as the area in question is prone to flashfloods.

Amandala understands from Toledo sources that rains in that district had also caused flooding in Jacintoville over the weekend, but with the abatement of the rains, the situation there has improved and suspended bus runs resumed today.

National Weather Service forecaster, Frank Tench, Jr., told Amandala that there was plenty of rain in the south of Belize over the weekend, and if the rains continue at this pace, they could exceed their record levels for May.

Tench says that experts are predicting an early and unusually wet rainy season this year.

Belize’s rainy season runs from June to November.

marty,, wheres the link to a nemo site? all i can find is a year old! and no mention of the bridge issue.
thanks

edit: we have a few guests arriving soon and it would be nice to send them a link to whether the bridge is open or closed,,, the oil guys should know right ?

I crossed the bridge this morning and water levels were down. Yes, call BNE in Belmopan for info.