11:20 am Tues:
The whole Placencia area and south of us escaped pretty much unscathed by
Keith. We got a lot of rain, and the seas from the dock south were VERY
rough. However, seas just north of the cut between Placencia Caye and the
Tradewinds property were almost glasslike. Lots of tarpon rolling in there,
so the guys have been having a great time fishing.
San Pedro and Caye Caulker got the worst of it. We're just now beginning to
get reports in - so far, a few injuries in San Pedro (mainly from flying
debris) but no injuries in Caye Caulker. However, LOTS of property damage
on both. Purportedly, the Corona del Mar (a concrete building) lots its
third floor, and Mata Chica was completely destroyed. Journey's End is ok,
but is full of water. About 40 houses were lost on Caye Caulker.
I understand that Belize City has up to 4 feet of water in some places and
that most areas have no phone or electric service. Many downed (and live)
power lines, so people are being urged to stay in their homes or shelters
(if they went to a shelter). The highways are in bad shape, and with the
amount of water, probably nobody could get anywhere anyway. Some reports of
price gouging in Belize City.
Belmopan shelters are full and until this morning had no food. Amazingly,
when the government put the shelter plan together, they relied on people
bringing enough food to last for 2 days (and they told people to do this on
the radio). My question is, how do you bring enough food for 2 days for a
whole family if you don't have any refrigeration or cooking facilities. I
don't imagine many people had ready access to ice (or maybe even a cooler),
so what were they supposed to bring for food for 2 days?
The Corozal area is reporting little damage, but some of the villages near
there are cut off from food supplies because of the bad roads.
I went out yesterday and bought a lot of chicken at Wallen's after I
realized that road conditions would probably mean no supplies here for about
a week. I figure that between the chicken and the fish (that Kevin says
he's going to catch today), we should be ok - - and should be able to feed a
few other people as well.
One humorous note here. Our hurricane shelter is the school on the sidewalk
(it was originally built as a hurricane shelter and later turned into a
school). However, extensive renovations are being done to the school. As
usual, the renovations were going very slowly. So, the Village Council put
up the "warning" hurricane flag in front of the school and sent some guys to
work on the renovations. These poor guys were out there in the rain and
wind trying to get some work done - - right behind the hurricane warning
sign. A friend got a picture - - should be priceless.
Anyway, thanks for thinking of us. Hope Keith doesn't come up your way (or
that other mess that brewing around Cuba).
Mary and Kevin