Remembering: Hurricane Hattie 50 Years Ago

Hurricane Hattie strikes Belize on October 31, 1961, killing more than 400 people and leaving thousands homeless. Almost half of Belize City was demolished by the storm.

The storm that would become Hattie had formed two weeks earlier in the Atlantic Ocean and then moved slowly west toward Central America. When it reached the coast of Belize, known at the time as British Honduras, it was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and gusts reaching 180 mph. It was the strongest storm to hit Belize to date. With accurate weather predictions still in their infancy, an attempted evacuation was only partially successful.

The barrier islands of Turneffe and Caye Caulker were totally submerged by the storm surge. Hattie then brought a 12-foot surge to the mainland, flattening all buildings near the shore. Stann Creek, a small fishing village on the coast near Belize City, was completely destroyed. Following the hurricane, a village was built on the outskirts of Belize City and named Hattieville.

Below are some amazing photos of the destruction in Belize City caused by Hurricane Hattie 50 years ago.

LOOKING BACK TO 1961

Hattie victims line up at Department of Housing and Planning: Office of Central Authority, and Department of Information and Communications.

Old Market in Downtown Belize City

The building in the center was the Royal Bank of Canada, today the Belize Bank. At the rear left of the photo you can see the Supreme Court building with its signature architecture.

The large building on the right with the sign was Belize Estate and Produce Limited.

Not sure where this building was or is in Belize City. Someone has suggested it may be the Peace Corp building... but I really can't say. Any clues anyone?

Not sure where this one is.

The panoramic scene at the Old Swing Bridge, a crossing still in action...

This building, says CBA engineers Philip Waight and Paul Satchwell, fell down off its posts and ended up partly in the street. Waight's family home also fell off its posts, he said on The Adele Ramos Show on November 2.

This photo is smack downtown in Belize City. The building to the right is Hofius Hardware - to the left is the present-day First Caribbean International Bank on Albert Street.

These men were discussing disaster relief efforts 3 days after Hattie.

On the Barracks... how our ladies did it back in the day and they looked uncomplaining!

Relief via helicopter airlifted to the Memorial Park in Belize City.

Village View Post

All photos and captions courtesy of Adele Ramos: "The Adele Ramos Show" Belize City

NEW YORK TIMES September 2, 1974, Monday

Hurricane Carmen, described as extremely dangerous, gains force on Sept 1 and threatens Brit colony of Belize with winds of 150 to 175 mph. Tides 15 ft above normal are expected. US Hurricane Center says Carmen compares with hurricane Hattie, which struck Belize in '61, killing 262 persons and causing $60,000 in damages.

Awash With Memories of Belize's Hurricane Hattie
Washington Post 1996

Every hurricane season blows back the Chronicler's memories of the night 35 years ago when Hurricane Hattie struck Belize, in what was then British Honduras. Just before Halloween in 1961, a heavy heat descended on the goodbye party for the colonial governor. In the living room of Belize City's only elegant ground-floor flat, with its fake fireplace, the glass pendants on the town's fanciest chandelier hung still as stalactites. In the garden facing the sea, guests in sweat-soaked jackets and dresses sipped gin and tonics as soggy canapes were passed around.

A major hurricane was blowing through the Caribbean, but the governor had word that it would strike to the north. Belize was safe.

Still, the sultry calm was saturated with a sense of foreboding. We worried about our house, built on 10-foot stilts but only a block from the sea in a land that does not rise far above the water's level.

The cable reports from Miami to the U.S. consulate gradually grew more terrifying as the storm twisted and turned south -- toward Belize.

The U.S. consul, after taking his sailboat up river, put his wife and children in the car and headed inland. His predecessor in Belize's Sept. 10, 1931, hurricane had stayed in the consulate and was washed out to sea, lost with 2,000 others. The death toll was so high because the town was then full of people commemorating the 1798 battle of Saint George's Cay, when British Honduran baymen wrested control of the cay from Spain.

But the vice consul -- my husband, Richard -- stayed behind. He secured the consulate on the ground level, moved the visa waiting list upstairs and tied down objects that might turn into missiles.

Only then did he come home to wrap his beloved Chickering piano in a tarpaulin. I bought candles and food, boiled water for drinking and packed necessities for our daughters, Claire, 1, and Camille, 3. We took refuge along with many others at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the only modern concrete office building in town.

Silent adults and occasionally crying children crowded an upper floor. We lighted lanterns, and as the winds grew we huddled behind desks. When corrugated roofing crashed through the windows, men made a barricade of bookcases.

Then came pounding and shouting -- the people from the top floor trying to force their way in. A telephone pole had crashed through the penthouse wall, and they had been washed down the stairway by the waves of rain. Only a few could fit behind our barricade, the rest huddled on the staircase and landing. In our refuge, there was no room to sit, only barely enough to stand.

The next morning the wind finally shifted and the sea washed in, frothing like a mad dog.

The town was all flotsam and jetsam -- a steeple sailing down the waves, a whole roof crazily dipping in and out of the water. A man swam along, pulling a string of whiskey bottles through the water. The police commissioner confiscated the evidence.

Richard half swam, half walked through the shoulder-high water to find the consulate unroofed but standing shakily. Desks, chairs and books were all washed up against one wall. Only the office flag hung straight on its pole.

The day after that, the children riding on our shoulders, we went home to find a miracle. Our house still stood -- though the wineglasses were filled with water and mud, the hammers on Richard's piano fell off as he played, and our water vat was stuffed with mud and debris. Soon our house was full of refugees who had been less fortunate.

There was no electricity, but one of our guests provided a kerosene stove, so I cooked up all the food in the freezer and the refrigerator. It was served in courses, by candlelight, on our best tablecloth, all of us grateful we were alive to eat it.

As the water began to subside, Richard went past the site of the governor's farewell party. Most of the apartment was gone; only one prism still hung on the chandelier.

Two days later, Camille had a raging fever. The girls and I were evacuated to Panama. Richard stayed behind, using our house as the consulate. He existed mostly on canned anchovies, Scotch and hard work.

We came back after a lonely Christmas. There were no telephones, only young boys who carried notes. Everything was in short supply. But the children and I were glad to be there.

Hattie in many ways changed the course of the country. Now British Honduras is the independent nation of Belize, with a new capital -- Belmopan, set safely up country on higher ground -- and with a flourishing tourist industry. But when the winds blow hard in hurricane season, I worry.

This was written by the wife of vice-consul Richard Conroy

Richard Conroy is the guy who wrote OUR MAN IN BELIZE, one of my favorite books on Belize

Richard Timothy Conroy’s Our Man in Belize is a fun, engaging memoir of his stint as US vice-consul to the impoverished British Honduras of the early 1960s, a period marked by the devastating Hurricane Hattie.

Here is a very interesting 31mb (large download) PDF about Hurricane Hattie.

Interesting section on Ray Auxillou controlling Caye Caulker after Hurricane Hattie, Starts on Page 65 of the pdf file.

CLICK HERE for the 31mb download

Here's a comment from Ray....

I can while I´m still alive add a footnote to whoever wrote that piece. After reporting to Governor Thornly at Queen Street police Headquarters, after returning from Caye Caulker, I asked for permission to get tools and hardware from Hofius Hardware, still standing. The Governor said fine, but I asked for a written piece of paper, with his signature on it. He gave it to me, but said he couldn´t enforce it. I and a couple of Caye Caulker helpers ( one was Leslie from the Caye ) went to Hofius walking, but the manager, would not let me have anything. So I went back to Governor Thornly and he told me he could not help me. I asked for a pistol, as the crowds were looting up and down the street and the Manager of Hofius ( an Englishman ) was worried if he opened his doors he would get looted too. We had two sailboats by the then Marketing Board, on the riverside and had to walk through about 3 or 4 feet of mud around the city. I lost my shoes and never had another pair.

Anyway the Governor referred me to a military officer ( a Major ) who seemed to be in dispair and sort of crying, as he had no men, etc. I told him that I needed some soldiers to take with me and the Governor had approved it. He went on and on, but finally, a patrol just coming off a 12 hour shift, volunteered. At least one corporal and a private. I also asked the Police Seargant for a pistol, telling him the Governor had approved it. He lent me his. Not sure of the caliber, and I promised to have it back in an hour. Leslie, another fisherman, two soldiers and myself went to the Police Station gate, and the military guy officer who I had asked, said there were no lorries available, as they were either without gasoline, or on the airport shuttle for supplies.

So I asked my guys to wait and walked up the street a bit, and flagged the first 3 ton Bedford truck coming by empty. I think they had been carrying stuff to the Marketing Board shed? Anyway, I jumped in the passenger side and said I was commandeering the truck for an hour. The driver protested, but I stuck the pistol in his ribs and told him to pick up my crew by the Police Station gate. He did and off we went. We went around the back door of Hofius Hardware, as the manager refused to let us use the front door, as the mob were looting all the stores along the street, we went with the truck in the alley and had to finish knocking down a telephone pole to get to the doors. I went in by the front door and Louise Sylvester, the area representative was arguing and pleading with the manager to get tools, but the manager resolutely refused. I listened and there was a crowd in there with permission to get stuff, but the English manager wasn´t budging.

The corporal and private were with me, and they were armed, I told the Corporal to arrest the manager and he put his rifle in the guy´s belly and pushed him back against the wall. The soldier private and one of my Caye fisherman went to the back and opened the doors and we start loading, house jacks, axes, crowbars, nails, hammers and all kinds of sundry things. Finally, the manager being held against the store wall, pleaded to me, to let him at least get a pen and paper to write down the stuff I was taking. Did that, and after that everything went smoothly. We filled the truck with stuff, then went to the Marketing Board and did the same there with food. Leslie ( a Caye black man ) had got himself arrested someplace and I rescued him and we loaded the truck with food at the Marketing Board and went around to the two sailing sloops.

While the boys loaded the vessels, I took the pistol back to the police seargeant at the Queen street police station, let the soldiers go and get some sleep, the truck was sent on his way and reported to Governor Thornly that we had our stuff and were going back to Caye Caulker. He was amazed and asked how I did it. When he heard, he simply said, he didn´t want to hear any more, but give him a report on Caye Caulker next time in town. It was some days later, and at that time the British Ship had arrived and naval doctors set up in the BLISS INSTITUTE. I went in and got my feet tended too. The doctor said he took 36 pieces of glass out of my bare feet. A good salt water sea wash fixed that for infection.

The people on the Caye really did good. They organized themselves in teams, and got stuff done quick time. Several political types, went in by boat, but were unable to get any cooperation from anybody. Next time I went in, I got zincs and hardware supplies for shelters. About three weeks later, Louise Sylvester came out by British military helicopter, but things were going well and he left. A year of so later, George Price, First Minister I think? Or some title, wrote me and asked how much I wanted for my work after the Hurricane. I toted it up, and submitted a claim for $120 Bz and received a voucher for the money and one day months later cashed it. I thought it was nice to be so recognized. For some years afterward, I was joshingly called GOVERNOR on Caye Caulker.

Caye Caulker’s recovery after Hurricane Hattie in 1961

The following article is an excerpt from a book compiled by John D. Friesen entitled “Hurricane Hattie, Story of the hurricane that ripped through the British Honduras – October 31, 1961″. It’s a very interesting read for all and I invite everyone to access this historical information especially for our beloved isla carinosa, Caye Caulker:

Caye Caulker’s Recovery after Hattie

Caye Caulker was split into two following Hurricane Hattie in 1961 (Photo provided by Mr. Ray Auxillou)

Caye Caulker, 20 miles north-east of Belize, near the Barrier Reef, was swept by 15 foot waves. After the Hurricane, only two good houses were left out of over 100. Almost 400 people were homeless and nearly completely wiped out with 14 known dead.

There were a few more houses numbering about 8 that were also used as refugee centers during the storm but at best were continually swept by water and badly damaged.

People were in a complete daze for the next two days as their grief and sorrow made them seemingly incapable of dealing with the situation. Meanwhile, on the second day in Belize, a fisherman from the Caye arrived in his small boat where he immediately spread the word among relatives of the terrible, bad, bad disaster there. Upon questioning the man, Mr. Ray Auxillou, an Englishman, residing in Belize, thought it was necessary to make a trip out to the Caye and bring back an accurate damage report. He set out, contacting relatives of the people on the Caye and soon a small party with a 19 ft. runabout and salt water drowned motor was found. A mechanic from Gordo’s worked on the motor feverishly while gasoline was hunted.

During the hurry and bustle of preparation, a visit to the controlling authority was paid by Auxillou to notify them of the intention to inspect the needs of the people at the Caye and the extent of the damage. Controlling authority turned out to be the Governor who seemed pleased and offered any help.

Consequently, a small list of food was obtained from the Marketing Board to be taken out for emergency use. The food turned out to be too much for the small boat and two other island sloops were comandeered at the wharf and the food loaded aboard. The speedboat with Ray Auxillou, Luis Alamina and Ilna Alamina went ahead to organize the reception and distribution of food.

Upon arrival the group were met by Constable Bernard Higinio, who was informed by Mr. Auxillou that a state of emergency was declared on the Caye, and that he would work under his authority for the time being on direct verbal orders from the Police Commissioner Bruce Taylor in Belize. A meeting of the Village Council was held at the J.P.’s house (best house remaining).

The distribution and plans for rehabilitation were discussed and after a little time, it was decided to leave things in the hands of the Village Council. However, by the next morning, it was apparent that the shock of disaster and great loss of everyone made things difficult. The Council were not reliable to adequately control or agree on what to do, people were looting and there was no spirit of cooperation. The Constable and Mr. Auxillou therefore called a public meeting that morning. The terrible situation in which the hurricane had left the whole country was described and the situation at the Caye was reviewed. Mr. Auxillou, speaking as the Governor’s representative, stated he found it necessary to declare “Martial Law” on the Caye, and in a long speech told the people that they could expect hardly any help from outside, but the best could be attempted, with no promises.

He explained how everyone should work together in cooperation with the Village Council, who would control all operations answerable to him.

Registration groups were formed immediately to list all people on the Caye, by age, name and family. A list of the destitute was made; a list of immediate requirements was also made.

The paper work took most of the day. Another meeting was held that night and “volunteer” conscription was organized with the motto “no work, no food”.

Gangs were assigned to the emergency projects in order of priority. There were the gathering and repairing of all water vats, erection of temporary shelters and looking after aid. Five serious hospital cases were sent into Belize City by boat early the next day.

Upon returning to Belize, a report was given to the Governor and a list of emergency requirements requested. These were authorized immediately and Mr. Auxillou’s authority for representing the Governor’s Emergency Hurricane Headquarters was confirmed verbally.

A tough time, even with the Governor’s written authority was experienced in getting materials, as no respect was shown to the Police Guard assigned. It was eventually found necessary to use two armed soldiers; after this was done, things worked out smoothly.

In two days’ time, the Caye had several houses standing and 19 temporary shelters. Now four weeks later, there are almost 50 complete houses, and work has stopped only because materials are lacking. At least 50 houses were swept completely away to sea.

After ten days, Mr. Auxillou passed the authority over the the Constable through the Governor, still leaving the Village Council in actual charge of operations, as the emergency crisis was deemed over, and all operations were now working fairly smoothly. The situation broke down slightly a few days later for a short time, but went back to normal again with the Village Council, now working in complete charge.